Overview

If you are planning on traveling by plane, boat, or car with your pet to another state, your exotic 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 exotic pet 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 and travel services may have their own pet travel requirements. Check with your airline and the places you’re traveling to see what they require.

Our USDA certified veterinarians can provide both domestic and international health certificates.

When should I start the process?

Since animal health requirements differ between states and airlines, we encourage you to contact our USDA accredited veterinarians to obtain a health certificate as soon as your travel dates are solidified.

As a general guideline, certificates must be issued close to the time of travel. However, due to species specific testing and quarantine requirements, it is advisable to set up an initial consult at least 30 days prior to obtaining your domestic health certificate to ensure enough time is given to contact the relevant authorities and for all required testing to return. Some countries and states (particularly island nations and Hawaii) may be much more difficult to travel to and the process should be started even earlier.

Please note that Health Certificate services are not available on an emergency basis.

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.

We will work with you to determine the health certificate requirements based on your travel destination and the species of animal traveling in question. 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