Living in a van makes it harder to care for my dog
I just talked about some ways living in a van has actually made it easier to care for Scout. While the pros certainly outweigh the cons, it’s only fair to talk about how being on the road makes a few dog ownership tasks harder, too.
Here they are!
(You can also read about some of Scout’s initial challenges with van life in this older post.)
We have to plan much further ahead to get her epilepsy medication
Scout has idiopathic epilepsy. She takes an anticonvulsant every morning and evening to control her seizures—and she’s had very few breakthrough episodes!
Because phenobarbital is a controlled substance, though, it’s not very easy to send seamlessly between pharmacies. We need to have our veterinarian call in a fresh prescription every time we want to pick it up in a new spot… and make sure we plan far enough ahead so we’re prepared to wait around an extra day or two if something goes wrong.
In some areas it’s hard to find her brand of food
Before we moved into our van full time, Scout ate a rotating selection of Nature’s Logic kibble proteins. We love the brand! We always had it shipped to our house though—and now that we’re on the road we’ve realized the online store locator can be kinda inaccurate.
We’ve since tried out Jinx. Their kibble is available at most Walmarts nationwide, which is a huge relief (and extra convenient since most Walmarts also welcome van lifers to stay overnight). But sometimes we’re traveling in areas that don’t have many chain stores—like moving between stretches of public land out west or when we took our Alaska-Canada trip earlier this summer. In those situations we need to 1) plan ahead and 2) be prepared to switch things up if necessary.
Thankfully Scout’s always had a pretty strong stomach. While we haven’t had to stress too much on the few occasions where we couldn’t find her familiar food, it’s always in the back of my mind.
It’s more difficult to give her proper low-stimulation rest days
We’ve been lucky to spend a lot of time in gorgeous backcountry areas! But some of our overnight spots have been in more crowded places like downtown parking lots—and even the most peaceful stretches of nature can bombard our dog with new stimuli to investigate.
Add the fact that Scout is a sensitive herding breed who very much wants to know what’s going on and be involved in whatever Sean and I do… and you can see why she gets jolted out of her sleep more often now. When we lived in a house we could give her quiet decompression time in a completely separate room, but in the van we have to think more critically about where we’re parked, how long we’ll stay there, and our own movement around the small space.
There are new health risks almost every place we go
When we lived in Wisconsin, we knew what things to watch for on adventures with Scout (mostly ticks). When we moved to Florida, our vet talked to us about more poisonous plants, snakes, and staying safe from alligators. It was all pretty obvious. Easy enough to get used to.
But now? We sort of live… well, everywhere. Sometimes we travel between different climates quickly. That means we need to constantly update our understanding of current health risks in each new spot!
While plenty of hazards stay the same across the board—for example, Scout’s on flea & tick prevention year round for peace of mind—others are more location dependent. Foxtails are the bane of my existence.
But: The extra logistics are worth it!
All this said, I still think van life has by and large made things simpler both for us and for our dog. A handful of extra logistics pale in comparison to the increased fulfillment, varied experiences, and conveniences of being able to drive our house wherever we want.