Motion sickness - Cerenia or Bonine?

Musiaka

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Hi!
We're about to embark on a long journey on Sunday, moving countries together with my cat. We're gonna spend around 6 hours in a car in total and 9 hours on a ferry (where he will be able to walk around freely). My cat gets nauseaus easily, he starts drooling excessively even after being carried around in a cage for a little bit, so our vet prescribed Cerenia for the journey. We have used Meclizine earlier also, which can be know by the brand Bonine, Antivert or Postafen. I gave it a bit too late before the travel so we didn't get to see the full results however.
I'm a little bit afraid to give Cerenia as I read that some cats had strange reactions to it. Do you guys think it's safe to give it? Did it work for your cat's motion sickness? Or is Bonine safer? Any other suggestions?
 

vince

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Years ago, a veterinarian once prescribed Dramamine for our cat for motion sickness. He said to give her 1/4 of a tablet, and it worked just fine. Since then, that's all I've used (full-grown cats only--I wouldn't try it on a kitten). Need to give it at least an hour before putting kitty in the car.
 

Mamanyt1953

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I've also used 1/4 tablet of Dramamine on my cats through the years.

As for the Cerenia, if you really look, you'll find cats who have bad reactions to EVERY medication out there. That's just medicine. Any living creature can have a bad reaction to any medication, and pretty much at any time. The unfortunate part is that you can't know if your cat will react to it until after the fact! I'd talk with the vet about your concerns, and ask if you could give a trial dose ahead of time so that the vet is at hand if there's a reaction, OR request the Bonine, since you have experience with it.
 

fionasmom

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My vet always uses Cerenia for nausea and it has worked very well, including for cats who were very ill. Right now my old dog with pancreatitis is on it and I have never had a reaction in either species.
 
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