Traveling With Your Pet

Although thousands of pets experience the excitement of traveling each year, you should ensure that you do your part in making the trip as enjoyable as possible for your furry, scaly, or feathered pet. Traveling with your pet can be as daunting a task as traveling with a child, and thoughtful preparation is the key to overcoming this challenge.

Pet Travel by Car

Just as you wouldn’t want a pesky child to be testing your patience while you drive, it would be prudent to put your pet at a safe distance from yourself and the pedals. While you wouldn’t allow a child to even roll down the window, you definitely shouldn’t let your pets stick their heads out of one. Riding in the back of a truck is no-no too.

Long car rides can be quite boring, and although your Beach Boys albums will get you singing until you’re parched, you should find another way to keep your pet occupied (unless you have a parrot). Bring along their favorite toys and snacks, and also talk to them about your day at work. The sound of your voice will help to relieve anxiety from your traveling pet, and ranting about that frustrating coworker is a surprisingly effective way to release your own stress and anger.

Other Goodies to Bring

Pet travel preparation should include the necessary documentation for your pet - especially if you’re traveling across state or country borders. Documentation should comprise of both identification and certification. Ensure that your pet is wearing tags with their name and your cell phone number, since your answering machine at home isn’t the ideal conversationalist.

Examples of certifications are things like a rabies tag, inoculation papers, and other medical documents. Check with your vet if you are going to any countries or areas where you are not familiar with their laws. You may need additional information or documentation for your pet to even enter the country.

Traveling Abroad

If you are traveling abroad, you should be aware that many countries have strict requirements and prohibitions concerning health, agriculture, and wildlife. Many countries, such as the UK, have adopted Pet Travel Scheme ("PETS") , which allows pets to travel to neighboring countries without being placed in quarantine. This is as long as long as it is free of rabies, and you have been in a qualifying country for, at least, six months.

Before 2001, the UK had strong regulations that included a compulsory 6 month quarantine period on the import of many animals However, not all countries have the same new regulations and some still automatically insist on animal quarantines as part of their customs requirement. You should check with the embassy of the country you are planning to go, well in advance of bringing your pet along.

If you are going somewhere that is not welcoming to pets, you may want to look into boarding your pet. Or perhaps, you can have family or friends look after him or her until you return from your adventures.