Taking your pets to the USA

Flying internationally with your pets is expensive, time consuming and can be complicated.

At Pets by Plane, our job is to take the strain out of this process for you and let you get on with all the other things you need to do. We can help manage your pet's travel to the USA from start to finish.

We are proud of our business motto 'We Care in the Air'. Our services will ensure your pet's health, happiness and calm well-being throughout their whole journey.

Whether you choose to use our 'Full Service' or our 'Flight Only' offer, we will ensure that your cat, dog or other pet travels safely, calmly and is well cared for throughout their journey.

Pets by Plane Tip: Start the planning for your pet's travel at the same time as you start planning to move to, or visit, America, although travel to America from the UK is relatively simple, it can take a while to get the documents prepared, a travel kennel, if needed, delivered and vet treatments done.

The rules & policies for taking a pet into the US can be found here.

Dogs can be imported without a valid rabies vaccination certificate if they have lived continuously for a minimum of 6 months, or since birth, in a country that is considered by CDC to be free of rabies in land animals.

The UK is classed as 'Rabies Free' by the US, however, and it is a big however, all the individual US States require rabies vaccinations for both cats and dogs.

We very strongly advise all our clients to have their pets vaccinated against Rabies here by a veterinarian before their flights.

Similarly for cats, although a Rabies vaccination is technically not required by the US Centre for Disease control, most individual states have local requirements and we strongly advise all our clients to have their cats vaccinated against rabies before they leave.

Pets by Plane Tip:  If you are on a short visit to the United States, or may be planning to come back to any EU country in the next few years, you should get your pet an EU Pet Passport as this will make re-entry much easier.

The requirements for Rabies vaccinations for each individual US State can be found here.

Travel Crates:

Your pet will need a rigid air-travel crate which is compliant with the latest IATA Live Animal Regulations and individual airline requirements. Don't worry, we can supply one but if you have a well-travelled pet, and already have a compliant travel crate you can, of course, use it. Click here to go to our page which outlines travel crate requirements.

Pets by Plane Tip: Pets by Plane Tip: Your pet will need some time to get used to their new travel crate and we recommend that you should take delivery of their new 'home' at least a month before their travel date.  We will supply you with some suggestions for the best way to get your pet acclimated to the new travel crate.

If you're planning to take your pet to America and would like an estimate for using our pet export service, click here, complete the form and hit the Submit button. One of our friendly team will get back to you.

Pets by Plane Tip:  As we will need some specific measurements (in cm) for your pet, if it is a dog, and its current weight, (in kg) for both cats and dogs, have a look at our pet measuring page here before you start to complete our Quotation Request form.

Alternatively, contact us if you have specific questions about our services. We aim to respond to all quotation requests within 24 hours, usually faster.