Do I withold food from my dog the day of travel when giving acepromazine?

Hi I am traveling with 2 dogs on a 10 hr dive and we are traveling at night. I usually feed the dogs once a day and it is around 4:30 pm. We will be leaving at 8:30 pm. and I will be giving them Acepromazine as precribed by the vet, I was just wondering if I should feed them in the morning or just withold food all day, the day of travel?

Wow we have to drive 12 -14 hrs (depending on road conditions) to get to our nearest city and we don't give our dogs drugs they just sit in the back sleeping. We do that trip about twice a year there and back.

We just feed them as usual and then stop at rest stops when we or one of the kids needs to. The dogs get out, have a sniff, wee and sometimes poo. We clean up then get back in the car. It works well.

But then you're giving your dogs drugs so they might have to have an empty stomach or a full one. For the most sound advice ring your vet and double check.

Ace is a sedative, so it certainly will not hurt the dogs to withold food for 12 hours before giving the drugs. Ace will make the dogs quite calm and very sleepy. If they have a belly full of food and fell car sick, being that drowsy and vomitting could be a problem. (this is the worst case senario mind you) btu you will in NO WAY be hurting them if you dont feed them until you arrive at the destination.
10 hrs is a long time and usually the Ace doesnt last that long. Are you giving them a top up along the way?

I would recommend feeding them a smaller than usual meal in the morning (they may not want to eat much anyway since it will only be a few hours after the meal the night before) and not feeding them before you leave. Acepromazine is supposed to be given on an empty stomach because it can really gork some dogs out and if they vomit when they are really loopy there is a risk of aspirating some of that vomit into their lungs...which can cause pneumonia.

When in doubt, CALL YOUR VET. The money you pay them when you go in isn't just for the 15 minutes it takes them to look at your dog and say "yep, he's healthy," it also covers incidental questions (which any staff member at the vet should be able to answer...or find the answer in a matter of moments) like this. A phone call is free and the peace of mind of knowing the answer is coming from a qualified professional rather than some crackpot on the internet is priceless.

For the future, I would also recommend asking your vet about training options to help you avoid having to use acepromazine. My dogs both travel very well even on exceedingly long trips (nothing like nearly getting to your destination only to find out that a sudden unexpected death in the family will take you back to about where you started only several hundred miles north! after 14 hours in the car on the second day alone, the dogs were convinced we were going to live in the car forever). And most dogs can learn to travel calmly in the car if you start off with short trips. It's always better to train than to medicate because training has no negative physical side effects unlike medication.

You might want to do some research on ACE. If you are using the meds cause the dogs are scared about traveling, think twice. There's an article on this website which explains why it is not the drug of choice for scared dogs.

But ask your vet or pharmacist about the food or no food question.

http://www.fearfuldogs.com/acearticle.html