Parrots and Car Sickness (Motion Sickness)

[bmsweb]

I haven't visited this forum for some time! Hope everyone is well

In any case we take our GCC with us when going to visit family and friends etc. She loves the outings and flying around new environments and exploring etc.

Now to the point of this post, we are going on a small vacation for a week and I wanted to know how she would go on a longer drive (it will be a 4 hour drive). On Sunday I had to go out and pickup a new MacBook Pro and the trip was going to be straight to a couple of shops, pick it up and come home which I estimated would take a couple of hours. We took her with us and 20min before coming home the threw up in her carrier.

I never knew bird could get motion sickness? Any thoughts and suggestion?

Cheers
Paul

[laducockatiel]

Hmmmm..... I never knew that they could get motion sickness either. Maybe your bird is I'll? Not sure.....I would consult a vet to make sure.

Ladu, my cockatiel, is fine with travelling. Every month or so, we go on a 4 hour drive to my granddads house. We take Ladu with us and he is fine, and has never thrown up or shown any signs of distress. In fact I think he enjoys it! Usually he naps and looks out the window.

Just make sure that carrier is properly secure, and I hope you enjoy your vacation

[Cage Cleaner]

y

[bmsweb]

That's interesting because I've since spoken to a few people one of which has one bird that's perfectly fine and the other gets Motion Sickness. I wonder if I should put her in the front seat

[Grey_Moon]

My girl doesn't get carsick--she actually loves being in the car (so long as the driver is easy on the brakes and gas) and beak grinds happily the whole way even on two hour trip or more. It can be just individual differences between birds as individuals like with people (I get horribly nauseated even if looking down just for a second, certain vehicles make me terribly sick regardless of where I sit---my mother gets sick in all cars regardless of whether she's driving/in the backseat/passenger---I've had friends who could read novels though).

I would also assume though that Jacko doesn't get sick because she can see out of the window and is up high on my shoulder, so like with people there's no confusing (and nauseating) brain message inconsistencies of 'i can feel movement but don't see it'.

A lot of parronts wag their fingers at me for it saying that if we hit the brakes hard enough she'd get hurt---but she'd also slam forward into the front of her carrier...so for me its a bit of a moot point. Plus I find it very enriching for her and I'm not about to take all the fun of her life just to make her 100% safe.
Its up to you of course.


You could also try making sure she has/hasn't eaten (depends on the bird as to what is beneficial) and offering some fresh ginger (a well-known and almost universal nausea/motion sickness remedy).

[bmsweb]

. . . offering some fresh ginger (a well-known and almost universal nausea/motion sickness remedy).

I was thinking of trying that too. I may give it one more go but this time in the front seat. She's come in the car heaps of time but never a drive longer than 60min. Also she is normally in the back seat with my son, so she wouldn't have had much in the way of a view.

Fingers crossed we have better luck next time