Pets Travel Info is the most comprehensive and reliable information about traveling with cats, dogs, birds, rodents, and even exotic animals around the world.
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1. Find out the conditions for entry into the Country
If you have a parrot or exotic animal, be sure to check whether it is on the CITES list.
Find out the rules for importing animals into the country you are going to enter with your pet. Information for each country: Official country requirements for importing animals.
In particular, pay attention to whether rabies antibody titers and a request/notification for prior entry permits are required in your case.
2. Microchip your pet
Read the chip requirements in the country of arrival. Chip your pet according to the rules of the country you are going to. The chip must be installed before vaccinations.
3. Obtain an international veterinary passport for your pet.
Get a veterinary passport for your pet if you don’t have one yet. Make sure there are no errors in the passport. It’s especially important to correctly indicate the pet’s species, breed, and age.
4. Make sure your pet has all the necessary vaccinations:
Ferrets – the same vaccinations as dogs: against rabies and a comprehensive vaccination against canine distemper and leptospirosis.
After vaccinations, you must wait at least 21 days before you can get certificates and travel to the destination country. If you have given your pet booster vaccinations before the previous ones expire, then quarantine is not required in your case.
No known country has a list of approved vaccines. All lists that can be found on the Internet are not reliable.
- Dogs – against rabies and a comprehensive vaccination against canine distemper and leptospirosis.
- Cats – against rabies and a comprehensive vaccination against calicivirus, viral rhinotracheitis and panleukopenia.
- Rabbits – against myxomatosis and VGBK.
- Rodents and birds – If you have a pet that is not required to be vaccinated, such as a bird or rodent, you must quarantine it for 30 days before the trip and do the necessary treatments during the quarantine. Birds must have their feces tested for salmonellosis and other diseases. Rodents must also have their feces tested for helminths.
5. Sometimes it is necessary to determine the titer of antibodies to rabies
Titers are required when traveling with a cat, dog or ferret to the EU countries, Israel, Qatar, China, Moldova, UAE, USA (for dogs), Turkey, Ukraine, South Korea, Japan and a number of other countries.
Blood for analysis is given in an accredited laboratory or a partner clinic of such a laboratory at least 30 days after rabies vaccination, not including the day of vaccination. Accredited laboratories by country:
For some countries, after donating blood for analysis, a quarantine of 1 to 6 months is required before the pet can be imported into the destination country. Quarantine does not impose restrictions on movement. If your country requires such a quarantine, then count it from the date of donating blood for analysis.
- List of accredited Japan laboratories
- List of EU-accredited laboratories in the EU
- List of EU-accredited laboratories in other countries
- List of US-accredited laboratories
Important: New EU rules effective April 22, 2026
6. Treatment against parasites
Get parasite treatment if required by your destination country.
7. Find an accredited veterinary clinic to prepare documents for leaving the country
Make sure the veterinary clinic has all the necessary licenses and is authorized to issue international health certificates for pets.
Accredited Veterinary Clinics for Pet Travel Documentation Worldwide
8. How to Get an International Health Certificate for Your Pet
If you meet all the requirements for entry into your country in terms of vaccinations, tests and treatments, then between 1 and 5 days before departure, go with your pet to the veterinarian for a certificate.
In most cases, you will need the following:
1. Your pet
2. Veterinary passport
3. Owner’s passport
4. Information:
- Destination country
- Transit countries
- Details about your transport: flight numbers, car numbers, train car numbers on which you plan to get to your destination.
The veterinarian will examine your pet, scan its chip, check its documents, the presence of all the necessary vaccines, give anthelmintics and drops for external parasites and issue a veterinary certificate.
9. Buying plane tickets
Find out the Official Requirements of Airlines for Transporting Pets
Carefully study the rules of the airlines that fly to your destination. In particular, pay attention to how the process of booking a seat for an animal works and what is the maximum permitted weight for transporting a pet in the cabin and in baggage. Some airlines, for example, Turkish Airlines or Air Serbia, have quotas for transporting animals both in the cabin and in baggage that can be booked several months in advance, and the reservation of seats for animals is only possible either on the hotline or at a sales office.
Please note that the choice of seats when purchasing a ticket with a pet is limited and is most often not available when purchasing tickets online. A passenger with a pet is always allocated a seat by the window, while placement in seats with extra legroom is prohibited. Even if you purchased a seat online, your purchase may be cancelled and you may be transferred to another seat.
A very small number of airlines allow the transportation of pets in the cabin of an airplane in business class. To find out about the possibility of transporting your pet in business class, contact the support service of the airline you are interested in in advance.
10. Prepare for veterinary control at the airport in advance
After the veterinary certificate is issued, you usually have 5-10 days before the start of your trip. Veterinary control can be done at one of the border veterinary inspection points, they are found at airports and land borders. Check in advance whether there is a veterinary control point at the border crossing point.
11. What to buy for a trip with a pet
Carrier
Buy a comfortable carrier for your pet. Soft carriers are accepted in the cabin of the plane, and only special hard containers are accepted in luggage. Try to accustom your pet to the fact that the carrier is a playhouse or a shelter, play with it while it sits there, give it something tasty. This will make it easier for it to get used to the fact that the carrier is a shelter and, accordingly, it will be easier to endure the trip.
Sedatives
Most airlines do not take pets on board the plane that have been given a sedative. It is believed that in such a state, pets have an increased risk of death or illness.
Harness
Before the trip, it is recommended to buy an anatomical harness for your cat, it will be useful when moving around the airport and will minimize the chance that the cat will escape.
For dogs at the airport, it is also recommended to use a harness instead of a classic collar with a leash.
It is advisable to take a harness without metal elements, otherwise you may be forced to remove it at the inspection frames.
Food and water
Provide yourself with food and water supplies before the trip. If the trip is not too long, within 6-8 hours, then you do not need to feed the animal. On the contrary, feeding can lead to nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. However, if the trip lasts 12 hours or more, then the pet should be fed in order to avoid problems with the digestive system in the future. This is especially true for cats. Wet food and pates are suitable for feeding in the cabin. Dry food can be poured into the feeder in the luggage.
Access to water should be constant at least in the luggage; for this, a special drinking bowl with sides is hung on the door of the carrier. It is not recommended to take a ball-shaped drinking bowl for cats and dogs in the luggage, like rodents have, it is quite difficult for them to get used to it.
For water, you should buy a collapsible bowl for the trip and carefully water your pets from it. Pet stores also sell travel waterers for animals in the form of bottles with a tray, but such a waterer is only suitable for dogs, cats most often refuse to drink from it.
Alternatively, the water can be frozen so that it does not spill out immediately when transporting a container with an animal in the cargo compartment of the plane.
Toilet
If you have long layovers with overnight stays, then it is recommended to take a folding tray and some filler for your cat. Airport security services treat filler in hand luggage adequately and it will not raise any questions. It is best to put the tray in quiet places where no one will disturb the cat, for example, a closed toilet for the disabled or a hotel room.
If you are traveling with a dog, then study the area around the airport or train station in advance for green spaces. After passing through passport control, most often you will only be able to take the dog to the toilet on a diaper. For going to the diaper, use toilets for the disabled, very often they are separate rooms that are locked from the inside.
Some airports around the world have rooms for animals with litter boxes for cats and artificial grass for dogs. Check your departure or transit airport for the availability of such a room.
What you need to do at the airport
Security checkpoints
The first test that awaits you at the airport is the security checkpoints. You cannot put the carrier with your pet on the belt! You will need to take your pet out of the carrier and either carry it through the checkpoints in your arms or walk it on a leash. Please note that to be at the airport, a dog must have not only a leash, but also a muzzle. A harness should be put on a cat to make it easier to hold in your hands if it starts to break free. If you have a bird or rodent, then in order not to take them out of the carrier, you can ask the airport staff to check the carrier with a gas analyzer. To do this, you will be taken to a separate room.
Veterinary control
If applicable to your country of departure. After passing through the checkpoints, the first thing you should do is go to veterinary control. There they will check your certificate and documents for your pet.
Check-in for the flight and pay for the ticket
Then go to the check-in counter of your airline. If you have not yet paid for a ticket for your pet, then they will first weigh it, and then give you a payment slip and send you to the ticket office to pay for the flight. As a rule, these ticket offices are located near the check-in counters. After paying, you return to the check-in counter out of turn, give the slip or receipt to the registrar, and only then will they print out your boarding pass.
Some airlines allow you to pay for your pet in advance. Read the detailed airline rules here.
After check-in
If your pet is flying in the cabin, then you can safely proceed to passport control. After passport control, no one will inspect the animal additionally.
If your pet is flying in baggage, then no later than an hour before the flight (and for some airlines, an hour and a half), you must hand over your pet to the oversized baggage counter. After that, you can go to passport control. Then just go to boarding.
Flight
If your pet is flying in the cabin, then according to airline rules, you must put the carrier with the pet under the seat in front of you or, if you have purchased an adjacent seat for the carrier, fasten it with seat belts. Some flight attendants are very loyal to animals and allow you to hold the carrier with the pet on your lap, but you should not open the carrier and take the pet out of it, since during takeoff, landing and entering a zone of turbulence, pets often get very scared and start to panic. There is a high chance that your pet will break free from your hands and you will have to catch it all over the cabin.
If your pet is flying in baggage, then you can ask the flight attendants whether your pet was loaded onto the plane, whether the heating in the baggage compartment was turned on and whether everything is okay with it. You cannot go from the plane cabin to the baggage compartment, so they will not be able to check its condition during the flight.
Transfer/Transit
Read about the transit rules here:
If you are transferring from one plane to another, you do not need to go through veterinary control again or mark your pet in any way at the transit airport. Just proceed with all your documents to board the next plane.
If both segments of your flight are on a single ticket and your pet is flying in baggage, then airport employees will transfer it to the next plane themselves. With a single ticket, you are only allowed to pick up your pet from the baggage compartment if you are leaving the airport transit area.
If both segments of your flight are on different tickets, then after completing the flight on the first segment, you must pick up your pet yourself at the oversized baggage counters or near the baggage belt, and then check in for the next flight and check your pet in as baggage again.
Arriving at the destination airport
If your pet was flying in your luggage, you must pick it up at the oversized luggage counters or near the luggage belt. Upon arrival in some countries, you must go through veterinary control again. In Cyprus, for example, you must notify the airport 48 hours before arrival, and after arrival, undergo an examination by a veterinarian at the airport. In Argentina, you must pay a duty for importing an animal at the SENASA point at the airport. In Portugal, a duty is also paid at the airport.
After you have picked up your pet and sorted out the issues with the stamps in the certificate and with duties (if required by the conditions of your country), you can safely go to the green corridor.
Domestic animals that are not flying for sale do not need to be declared in the red corridor, however, in some countries, there may be veterinary control in the red corridor.
Living in a new country with new rules
Some countries have special rules for pets. Carefully study the rules for keeping animals in the country where you are going to move. Some examples of such special rules:
- In the European Union, if you live there for more than 4 months, you will be required to make a European passport for your pet.
- In Portugal, if you live there for more than 120 days, you must register your pet’s chip in the local SIAC database. Dogs must also obtain a license from the Junta de Freguesia. To obtain this license, an extensive list of documents is required, including a certificate of good conduct from its owner.
- In the UK, dog chips must also be registered in local databases, and the dogs themselves must have an ID tag with the owner’s details on their collar. If there is no ID tag, the fine is 2,000 pounds.
Returning home
Read the rules for importing pets into your country. If you are returning from a country that is not on the “red” list for rabies, then most likely the documents made before the vacation will still be valid for entry into your country.
If you vacationed in a country that is on such a “red list”, then you must comply with all quarantine requirements of your country. Please read about this in advance.
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