Traveling with an animal comes in many forms. From luxurious air travel on chartered flights, semi-private jets or helicopters, to every-day car rides and road trips. In fact, more than 50% of people in America travel with their pets.
You’ll need to prepare and plan for your pet’s needs when traveling. Be it eating, drinking, resting, exercising, medical documentation, and even encountering other animals. Whether your animal is transported in a plane’s cargo area, on your lap or in the seat next to you, it’s important to become familiarized with your airline’s pet policy.
From car rides of 30 minutes, to road trips lasting a day or more, you can use the basic guidelines below to help you prepare.
Plan ahead for these different instances:
Pack essential items your animal may need:
If you’re planning on traveling with a puppy in a car, consider bringing extra puppy pads and towels in case your pup vomits, gets diarrhea or has the sudden need to go potty while in the vehicle.
It’s also worth mentioning, traveling animals do better with smaller, more frequent feedings of food and water, as opposed to their normal portions.
Flying with pets and service animals comes with a lot more documentary preparedness. With the following records, you and your pet will be ready to check in for air travel.
In general, your pet has to be at least eight weeks old, and have been weaned for at least five days, prior to your travels.
With your upcoming travels quickly approaching, something like checking the weather can easily be forgotten. Remember to check the weather at your destination, for both your arrival date and the duration of the trip.
Also, it’s crucial to get to the airport early when traveling with animals.
If you have a service dog, he or she is permitted to fly with you in the cabin. Just ensure they are fully-trained. Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) and animals-in-training are typically considered as pets by airline companies, therefore any requirements and fees apply.
Unfortunately, many accidents and injuries happen on account of carriers or kennels being of poor quality, or have missing functional pieces. So, just double-check their functionality before traveling. To help ensure your crate is airline compliant, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has pet crate guidelines on their website.
When checking kennels into cargo areas, you’ll want to ensure they meet these required criteria:
Airline companies may refuse to transport your pet(s) in the cargo hold if the temperature is higher than 85°, or is less than 45°. If your pet is acclimated to sub 45° temperatures, just make sure to bring along a statement saying so from your veterinarian — it is almost always required.
The best way for flying with large dogs is usually a personal preference, varying between dog owners. Some suggestions include training them to use absorbent pads, giving plenty of exercise before the flight and scheduling food and water consumption at least five hours before flying.
Do not sedate your pet for traveling by plane.
Though they are generally semi-private airline companies, many international airlines allow large dogs to accompany you inside the cabin. They are:
Although policies differ from one airline to another, they generally allow and/or require the following:
Other pet friendly airlines include, though may not be limited to:
Oftentimes, pilots request two or more unrelated dogs to be leashed on the tarmac, and to familiarize themselves with each other before boarding the plane.
Lastly, with careful planning and taking into consideration your pet’s needs, traveling by planes and personal vehicles alike can be a wonderfully memorable experience.
