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Health Certificates

Going out of the country or traveling locally within the U.S.? As a federally accredited veterinarian practice, we can issue travel and acclimation certificates for your healthy pet so they can travel with you.

Overview

If you are planning on traveling by plane, boat, or car with your pet to another state/country, your pet may require a domestic/international health certificate.

As a federally accredited veterinarian practice, we can issue travel health certificates (Certificate of Veterinary Inspection) for your healthy cat, dog, or other animal so that they may travel with you.

Why does my pet need a certificate to travel?

Health certificates are federal documents that indicate your pet is healthy to travel and won’t pose a health risk to other pets or people.

Only pets in good health are permitted to travel by plane or boat. The country you are traveling to may have specific health requirements that must be met before your pet can enter. Certain health requirements may include: up to date vaccinations, a passing health exam, etc. Health certificates ensure that your pet is healthy to travel and isn’t susceptible to transferring diseases to other pets or people. Animal health requirements may also differ state to state; even airlines may have their own pet travel requirements. Check with your airline and the states you’re traveling to see if they require a health certificate. We highly recommend checking:

USDA | APHIS United States Department of Agriculture

When should I start the process?

Since animal health requirements may differ between states and airlines, we encourage you to contact our accredited veterinary practice to obtain a health certificate as soon as your travel dates are solidified.

Certificate timing varies greatly by country: For example, rabies-free territories such as Australia and New Zealand take six months. We strongly encourage checking the APHIS website as early as possible.

Certificates must be issued within 10 days of travel. It is important to note that a pet must be at least eight weeks old and fully weaned before traveling. Again, we highly recommend looking at the APHIS website for specific information. The process should be started early to allow time for meeting requirements.

How can I obtain a domestic health certificate?

First, check with your airline and destination states to see if a travel health certificate is required.

If a certificate is required, your pet must have a passing health exam and up to date rabies vaccinations to travel. If all of these requirements are met, we will issue a travel certificate for your pet.

We will work with you to determine your needs, based on your travel destination. Since requirements differ by each state and airline, we encourage you to gather information as early as possible.

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How can I obtain an international health certificate?

Before you start the process, you need to determine the destination country and dates of travel.

We will work with you to determine the health certificate requirements based on your travel destination. Since requirements are determined by each country and can change frequently, we suggest you check the current pet travel health requirements for your destination country on the USDA website: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/pet-travel/take-pet-to-foreign-country

We will perform a health exam to determine if your pet has any sign of disease or health risks that could pass along to others while traveling. We will also ensure that your pet has all required vaccinations to travel. Once all requirements are met, we will issue a certificate indicating that your pet has been cleared to travel.