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Domestic Health Certificates

Are you traveling domestically within the USA? As a federally accredited veterinarian practice, we can issue travel certificates for your healthy pet so they can travel with you.

Cat on street in front of cars
Cat on street in front of cars

Overview

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

As a federally accredited veterinarian practice, we can issue travel health certificates (Certificate of Veterinary Inspection) for your healthy cat 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.

Animal health requirements may 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.

Our certified veterinarians can also help you determine if your pet needs a domestic health certificate to travel.

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.

As a general guideline, certificates should be issued within 30 days of travel. It is important to note that a pet must be at least eight weeks old and fully weaned before traveling.

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. A pet must also typically be free of heartworm disease or using preventatives to be considered healthy for travel. If all of these requirements are met, we will issue a travel certificate for your pet.

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