Traveling with your pets starts getting complicated when you cross country borders. Then it becomes more than just a matter of finding pet friendly hotels or booking a plane ticket for your pet. Because of the concerns of bringing diseases into the country from other places, many countries require an animal to be quarantined upon arrival, or at the very least, to have a health certification from a vet.
Traveling into Canada is probably the easiest for Americans who want to travel with their pets. You can go back and forth across the U.S./Canadian border all day with your pets and no one is going to care.
Traveling into the U.K. is also fairly easy, as they have a program there called PETS (Pet Travel Scheme) that was set up to allow people to travel with their pets more easily. As long as certain conditions are met — such as coming from one of the approved countries, or the animal having been vaccinated for rabies, for example — you can bring your pet into the UK without having to quarantine them.
Certain other countries require your pet to have a health certificate, usually from an APHIS Accredited Veterinarian. This verifies to the country that your pet is free of any of the diseases they don’t want in their country, and is a much better alternative than quarantining your pet.
Quarantine may or may not be required, though. Some countries require it only when certain conditions can’t be met, such as providing immunization records for the pet. Other countries require it across the board.
Knowing how various countries deal with pets coming into their country is important if you are planning on traveling internationally with your pet. You may need to plan for it in advance, for example, to ensure that you have all of the requirements (such as a health certificate, or certain immunizations) met before your trip. You may also need to plan your trip according to which countries will allow you to travel with your pet without quarantining them.
If you need more information, this page on international pet travel lists out all of the countries and what their requirements are. You can also find out more information online by doing a quick Google search. Be sure to do all your research ahead of time, so that you can better plan for your trip!
