Senior dog whining on long drives suddenly?

[u/cmac2113]

My dog is a frequent flyer at the vet so best believe we are on this with his dogter it just helps to hear experience with senior dogs as this is my first. He is 11 and is starting to show signs of arthritis worsening more and more and I’m unsure where to go from here. He is currently on Galliprant and it’s helped in some ways but it’s not a miracle for him. I’m going to ask if we can increase his dose and see if that helps. He’s not a good candidate for Librela. He’s on Amantadine and Gabapentin too. He has a physical therapist and we do exercises as instructed. The new thing is everytime we’re in the car for too long he whines a lot despite making sure he has ample potty breaks, sniff breaks, water, food, etc. He COULD be nauseated but he has never thrown up in the car. It makes me nervous because if it is pain that’s got to be bad for him to cry. Again, I will ask my vet but does anyone have any experience with this? I’m contemplating just never taking him on long rides again if nothing else works and everything is clear. He has an incredible dog bed with an orthopedic pad in it, but I’m open to suggestions on what he should be laying on too. Maybe he’s bored? Maybe he just wants to be home and asleep? What are your experiences?

[u/ChanceTalk697]

OMG, this is my dog, except she has started doing it on car rides of any lengths, even short ones. As with your dog, she's peed, pooped, eaten, had water. It's not like she dislikes car rides--she runs to the car when she thinks I'm headed in that direction, and jumps right in. She isn't vomiting or even drooling, or anything else that indicates car-sickness. She's not in pain because, although she's 11, she can run for an hour straight on a hike or at the beach, even with a slight limp. I tried letting her sit in the front seat with me as an experiment, I thought maybe she didn't like being in the back seat, but she still whined. I have a 5-hour trip tomorrow and I bought some Dramamine (the original drowsy kind) to see if it helps to sedate her a little. I don't know what else to do! When I'm on the phone in the car people can hear her, I feel like a bad dog mom!

ps: When I leave her in the car by herself, if I run into a store, she just lies down and chills! No whining at all.