Traveling with your pet? There may be more to it than you think. Here’s what you need to know.

There are many factors when traveling with your pet and a lot of research should be done prior to booking your trip or a big move.  Depending on where your headed, your pet may need a health certificate.  Health certificates are are issued (completed, signed, and dated) by veterinarians who examine your pet and perform (or verify) all required testing, vaccinations, or treatments. If your destination country needs USDA APHIS to endorse the health certificate, then your pet’s veterinarian must be USDA-Accredited.  For some countries, these health certificates can take up to 6 months to process.  To ensure your pet is ready to travel with you, we recommend that you do this research prior to booking your travel.

We know this can be overwhelming, and there are some pet travel/relocation companies that can help you along the way with this process (i.e., Pet Relocation and Continental Pet Relocation).

If you’re not going to use a pet travel/relocation service, start by visiting the UDSA APHIS Pet Travel website and locating your destination to determine what the requirements are for pet travel. For instance, what kind of health certificate do you need for your pet?

• Interstate (Domestic)  Health Certificates are for pets to travel from one state to another. This includes the US Territories of the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. These certificates are written in-house, and do not require sending out to the USDA for Endorsement. They can be done in a single appointment.
• International Health Certificates are needed for pets traveling to another country, as well as to Hawaii and the US Territory of Guam. They generally require endorsement from the USDA, and take a long time to complete. They almost always require multiple, time-sensitive appointments.

1. For International Health Certificates, please ask the following questions:
   1. What country are they going to?
   2. If they are flying, will they transit (change planes) through a third country? For example, if flying to India, will they transit in Dubai?
   3. When are they hoping to travel?
   4. Are they traveling with their pets, or shipping their pets separately?

If you have already booked your appointment with us to get a health certificate for your pet, be sure to complete our Health Certificate Questionnaire before your appointment.