THE CHANGING WORLD OF INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL

The rules, regulations and required forms for traveling internationally with your pet are constantly changing.

EU Countries have relaxed the rules for entering from a country with a low incidence of rabies such as the United States and Canada. Of the EU Countries only the UK, Norway, Sweden and Malta now require quarantine but even that can be avoided by having a blood titre test performed in advance of travel.

Most EU countries now recognize 125 different countries as having a low incidence of rabies, the latest addition to the list being Mexico. The UK list of countries from which you can enter without quarantine is somewhat shorter.

Virtually all countries now require that your pet be micro chipped as a condition of entry. The ISO pet microchip, which is a non-encrypted 15 digit microchip operating at 134.2 kHz is the world standard.

Gone are the days when a universal international health certificate such as the APHIS form 7001 would suffice for travel to another country. Now, almost every country has their own unique veterinary certificate.

Having your pet quarantined on arrival in a foreign country almost never happens any more now that the blood titre test has come into popular use as a means of making sure that pets are vaccinated for rabies. However, every day more countries are requiring the blood titre test, so you need to check each country's regulations carefully. The Turks & Caicos and the United Arab Emerites are recent additions to the list of countries requiring this test.

Pets living in Europe have an even easier time, as the EU has adopted a single form of veterinary certificate called the Blue Pet Passport. However, the blue pet passport can only be issued by veterinarians in the EU and it is only valid for travel within the EU.

VETERINARY CERTIFICATION: Most countries require that the forms for taking a pet into that country be certified by the "competent authority" for veterinarians. This is the governmental agency that licenses veterinarians in the country from which they are departing. In the United States, this is done by the State USDA veterinarian and in Canada by the CFIA office in the region of Canada you are traveling from. We have more information on USDA certified veterinarian in your state, in our pet passport, quarantine, and immigration information section.

With more airlines accepting pets on their international routes, traveling with your pet has become much easier. It is VERY important that you have the current information and all of the necessary forms before traveling internationally. The forms and instructions for taking your pet to almost every country in the world can be found in our pet immigration form section.

In addition to the immigration rules and forms you will find the pet policy for the world’s airlines as well as policies for cruise ships and ferries throughout the world.

If you have questions regarding traveling with your pet, send an email to: Info@pettravel.com.