Pet Health Certificates
BEEVET Animal Hospital understands the joys and challenges of traveling with your pet. Traveling with your companion requires preparation and planning to ensure his or her safety and health during the trip. Our veterinary team can help you procure both domestic and international travel health certificates for your pet. Estimates for this service can be discussed in person with our team. Contact us to learn more.
USDA Pet Travel GuidelinesDomestic Pet Travel
Air travel with your pet can be stressful and challenging. We are here to support you and to ensure the health, safety, and eligibility of your pet to travel by plane. At a minimum, a current health certificate and proof of rabies vaccination are required. Health certificates must be issued within 10 days of your flight and are valid for 1 month. Specific air travel requirements vary by airline and can change without notice. We recommend contacting the airline for specific information.
Other common considerations and items we can help with include:- Temperature—ambient temperature at departure and arrival location for pets transported in cargo
- Pet carrier requirements—size, shape, bedding, and water
- Health document requirements—health certificate and vaccination documentation
- Security screening and check-in procedures
- Requirements for cabin travel per the airline
- Service dog travel
- Sedatives
International Pet Travel
International pet travel requires extensive planning and help from experienced professionals. It is a difficult and intricate process that has different rules and guidelines, depending on your destination. International Health Certificates (IHC) are complex and vary by country. The key is to know what the specific travel destination country’s requirements are, and why they have those requirements. For example, Turkey is listed by the CDC as a high-risk rabies country, so there is additional paperwork involved to bring an animal there. We can help you navigate through this process with adequate preparation time before your trip.
Why Is International Travel With Pets So Complicated?
Part of the reason for health certificates is to help regulate and prevent the spread of infectious disease via animals coming in and out of the United States and other countries. Rabies is regulated very closely by country. Most countries require proof that an International Standards Organization (ISO) microchip is implanted, and proof that it was done PRIOR to the Rabies vaccine. Some countries also require a rabies titer through an approved lab, which can take up to 3 months to get results.
To ensure your pet will not be placed in quarantine upon your arrival, please allow at minimum 3–6 months to complete the international pet travel process. However, this timeline will vary by country. We can help ensure your pet has the required documentation, vaccinations, microchip, and blood testing. We will comply with airline and country of origin requirements. Additional common considerations include:
- Airline carrier—requirements for health documentation, pet crate specifications, and eligibility
- Requirements of the country of origin
- Requirements of the destination country
- Work with the state veterinarian for required documents, pet passports, or permits required to travel
- Extra treatments per country guidelines (ie: tapeworm and external parasite)
- Rabies titer (based on country)
- Country permits (export and import)
- CDC paperwork
- Extra documentation varies by country
- United States Department of Agriculture—Traveling with Your Pet
"I just wanted to extend my gratitude and thanks for helping me get my fur baby, "Mr. Prince," to the UK. All went well and was so excited to hear everything was perfect from Customs, as there were many people having problems at the pet reception center at Heathrow airport!!! Many thanks to Dr. Chow!!! Many thanks, y'all rock !!!"
— M.A. Pena Jr.
Please contact us to schedule a pet travel health exam. As always, we are here to answer any questions you may have about this process.