Do cats get carsick?

I took my 2 year old female Maine Coon to the Vet last week for her annual check-up and shots. She was great in the car going to the vet. She was not in a carrier. She weighs in at 16.5 pounds. On the way home she vomited in the car.

This happened last year too. I a not sure why. She is quite healthy. I wonder if it was a reaction to the shots or maybe just car sick.

 

Could be either or both, if shes normally okay before the shots then it could be the shots, or then again it could be the stress from the first drive, then stress at the vets and then another car ride home.

I have to mention this also as you brought it up, you really should have your cat in a carrier when in the car, even though shes normally very well behaved you just never know if somethine will happen to scare her or something, or worse your in an accident....your cat probably wouldnt stand a chance, she would be much safer in a carrier, the other thing is she could put you off your driving and you could end up either killing yourself or someone else, I know someone who had a bad accident when a loose cat got under their pedals, she tried to brake, hurt the cat that then ripped her leg to shreds and she crashed the car.....its just not worth it.

 

my vet once told me cats get carsick easily. It's when they look out the window and have things go by them quickly - makes them ill.
Carriers are much safer. If you ever got into an accident and your cat wasn't in a carrier your chances of ever finding her again are slim to none.
I even seatbelt my carriers down so they won't fly about the car if I ever got into a carsh

 

One of the hospitals I worked at was close to a freeway (the 15 in S.Cal) and we were the only hospital open weekends and nights, I lost count of the amount of animals, usually dogs and cats, that either animal control or the cops brought in after car accidents, there were quite a few were the cop had said the wreckage was so mangled that he "didnt know how 'it' survived...must have been the crate", in some cases all the people involved had been either killed or critically injured....the pets, when we took them out of the crate, 9 times out of 10, apart from being a little freaked out were otherwise okay, maybe just a few bumps and bruises.
For a cat size crate it costs what about $15 at somewhere like Petco or Petsmart, can anyone afford 'not' to have one. It just makes sense.

 

I kept her out of the carrier this time because as I said, she vomited in the carrier last year. And she cried the whole way to the vet in the carrier last year. I was trying to ease her distress this time. The drive was not too far and on local streets and she was on my wifes lap in the back seat.

 

try riding in a car with THREE SIAMESE on the way to the vet LOL
and my vet is in another town. I try to play the radio louder than they can yowl (usually it's fosters I'm transporting so they aren't happy)
I did once have a foster who freaked out in a carrier. He would body slam it. It was thought he had been left in the carrier for a long time at some point in his life cause of the way he reacted in the carrier.
His adopter puts him in the car in the carrier and takes him into the vet in the carrier - but during the car ride she has him in a harness/leash so she can control him while she's driving and he's not wandering about.