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Taking Your Dog on a Plane Trip?

After days of grueling work, you and your dog finally have time to yourselves and time to enjoy and relax. And you’re thinking of spending that time on a white sand beach. Perhaps you can teach your dog to swim, or maybe your dog has a water trick or two to show you. But the beach is a one-hour plane ride away from your city apartment. Your dog whines fearfully every time a plane passes overhead. Something worse may happen when you take your pet on a plane. What are you going to do?

Do you lie on your bed and imagine yourself on a hammock, bathing in the fluorescent light, I mean, the sun, and hope that your pet will have the same pleasant doggie dreams, or have your creative imagination? Or do you ask your veterinarian for help?

Chances are, the vet would suggest acepromazine. While this medication is often used as tranquilizer, it is ideal for pets who feel anxiety and motion sickness while traveling. It works by stabilizing the rhythm of the heart and dilating the blood vessels. And it is expected to last for about six to eight hours.

However, there are some things you have to consider before giving this tablet to your pet. First, you have to check out the active ingredient found in any flea treatment that you are already giving to your dog. If it is an organophosphate insecticide, then you should not use acepromazine. Consult your vet again to know if the insecticide is an organophosphate.

If your pet is epileptic, it is also not a good idea to give acepromazine, because this medication may make your pet more susceptible to seizures. If your pet has a known liver disease, you should again avoid acepromazine. The liver is supposed to remove this medication from the body, but this function cannot be done if the liver is not working properly.

This medication is also not advisable for anemic pets. The acepromazine, when dilating blood vessels, could drop the red blood cell count by about five percent. Also, when your dog has been wounded very recently and has experienced blood loss, acepromazine might proved to be dangerous.

There have been cases when the boxer breed suffers respiratory arrest when given acepromazine. There are also cases in which boxers show no adverse effects to this medication. To be on the safe side, if your dog is a boxer, avoid it.

As for your other worries about your soon-to-be-a-globe-trotting pet, consult a good veterinarian. Bon voyage.