The Vet Visit Before You Travel: What to Ask, and When to Go

Almost everything that can go wrong with a dog on holiday can be headed off in a vet's consulting room before you leave. That is true of being turned back at a border, and it is true of coming home with a disease the dog picked up abroad. The trouble is that most people go too late, with one question in mind, usually about paperwork, and come away with half of what they needed. A vet can only help with what you tell them. This guide is about getting that appointment right: when to book it, what to take with you, and the questions to ask. It applies whether you are flying to another continent or driving three hours to the coast.

When to Go

Go earlier than you think, and how early depends on where you are going. For a holiday in your own country, a visit two or three weeks before is plenty. It gives time for a booster to take effect and for a new medicine to be tried at home. For anywhere with parasites your dog does not meet at home, Europe's parasite specialists, ESCCAP, say to see your vet at least one month before you travel, because some protection has to be started in advance to be working when you arrive.

For a first trip abroad, think in months. A dog cannot enter the European Union or Great Britain until at least 21 days after its first rabies vaccination. For American owners, the Department of Agriculture's own advice is to have the rabies vaccination done three to six months before the trip, which keeps the paperwork simple. Countries that are free of rabies, such as Australia and Japan, need a blood test and a wait of several months on top.

So the first appointment is for planning, and it should happen as soon as you know where you are going. The certificate itself comes later, in a second visit close to your departure. Our guide to taking your dog abroad sets out the order in which things must be done, and it is worth reading before you see the vet, so that you know what to ask for.

What to Take With You

Take your itinerary, written down. List every country and every region, including the places you will only drive through, with the dates. The risks in the south of Spain in August are not the risks in Scotland in May, and your vet cannot guess where you are going. Take your dog's vaccination record and anything you have about its microchip, and a list of every medicine and supplement it is on.

Tell the vet how you are travelling as well, whether by car, plane, train or ferry, and where the dog will be during the journey. The advice for a dog in an aircraft hold is different from the advice for a dog on your back seat, and a dog that will spend six hours alone on a ferry's car deck raises different questions from one that will sleep in a cabin with you. The more exactly you describe the trip, the more useful the half hour will be.

Is My Dog Fit to Travel?

This is the first question, and it is worth asking plainly. Most healthy adult dogs travel well. But a long journey and a hot climate are hard on a very old dog, a dog with heart or breathing trouble, a heavily pregnant dog and a young puppy, and for some of them the kindest decision is to leave them at home with someone they know. Our guide to whether your dog should come on the trip offers a way of thinking that through.

Flat faced breeds need a particular conversation. Bulldogs, pugs, French bulldogs and similar dogs struggle to cool themselves and to breathe under stress, which is why most airlines will not carry them in the hold. If yours is one, ask your vet directly about heat and about flying before you book anything. An honest answer now is worth far more than a refund later.

Vaccinations

Ask your vet to check that your dog's routine vaccinations are up to date, and then ask what else the trip calls for. Rabies is the one with legal force. It is required for almost every border crossing, and the timing rules are strict. The microchip must be in place first. The British government's wording is that the microchip must be done before, or at the same time as, the rabies vaccination, and the dog must be at least 12 weeks old. Ask the vet to scan the chip before giving the injection and to write the chip number on the certificate. Then keep the boosters up to date without a gap, because a lapsed vaccination puts you back to the beginning.

Leptospirosis is worth a question if you are heading somewhere warm and wet. The Merck Veterinary Manual notes that it is found worldwide and is commonest in warm, wet climates. Many dogs are already vaccinated against it, so it may be only a matter of checking the date. If your dog will be staying in kennels or mixing with many other dogs, ask about kennel cough too, since kennels often require it.

Parasites

This is the part of the appointment that most owners do not know to ask about, and it matters most for the dog's long term health. The parasites your dog is protected against at home are the ones found at home. Travel south and there are new ones. Around the Mediterranean, the main three are leishmaniosis, spread by sandflies, heartworm, spread by mosquitoes, and a group of diseases spread by ticks. The European vets' federation, FECAVA, lists leishmaniosis as established in Spain, Portugal, southern France, Italy, Croatia, Greece, Cyprus and Turkey. In the United States, the Companion Animal Parasite Council says dogs are at risk of heartworm in all fifty states.

Each needs a different kind of protection. A repellent collar or spot on treatment keeps sandflies and ticks from biting. Heartworm is prevented with a regular medicine that is started for the trip and carried on after you return. No single product covers everything, and some have to be started before you leave. So the question to ask is this: for these places, at this time of year, what should my dog be wearing or taking, when do we start, and when do we stop? Our guide to the illnesses dogs can pick up abroad goes through each region.

If you are coming back into Britain, Ireland, Finland, Malta or Norway, there is also a legal tapeworm treatment, given by a vet between one and five days before you arrive. For British owners returning from the continent it has to be done abroad, so ask your own vet how to arrange it, and find a vet at your destination before you go.

The Paperwork

Tell the vet at the first visit that you need a travel certificate, and ask whether the practice can issue it. In Britain an animal health certificate has to be signed by an official vet, and not every practice has one. In the United States the certificate must come from a vet accredited by the Department of Agriculture, who then sends it to the department to be endorsed. If your practice cannot do it, find one that can now, and not in the week before you leave.

Book the certificate appointment for the right window, which for the EU is within ten days of travel, and ask what the practice charges, because fees vary widely. Our guide to dog passports, health certificates and microchips explains which document applies to you. For a trip within the United States, the rules are set by the state you are travelling to, and your airline may want a recent health certificate, so ask your vet what is needed for your route.

Medicines and Records

If your dog takes regular medication, ask for enough to cover the whole trip and a week beyond, and carry it in its original packaging with the label. The same drug may not be available abroad, and a foreign vet will want to see exactly what it is. Ask also for a printed summary of your dog's medical history, with its vaccinations, chip number, conditions, allergies and current medicines with their doses. If your dog falls ill a thousand miles from home, that sheet of paper is worth more than anything else in your bag.

It is also the moment to put together a first aid kit. The American Veterinary Medical Association publishes a sensible list, and your vet can add anything specific to your dog. Our guide to what to do if your dog is ill or hurt on holiday explains how to use it, and how to tell an emergency from something that can wait.

Travel Sickness and Nerves

If your dog is sick in the car, or frightened by travel, say so. There are effective medicines for travel sickness, and your vet may suggest trying one on a short journey before the real one, so that you know how your dog responds. Our guide to driving with your dog covers the signs and the things that help without medicine.

Anxiety is a different matter from sickness, and sedation is not the answer for a flight. Airlines follow the American Veterinary Medical Association's advice and will refuse a dog that has been sedated or tranquillised, because sedatives raise the risk of breathing and heart problems at altitude. Ask your vet what is safe for your dog and your journey. Often the best remedy is practice, with short trips, a familiar crate and time, as our guide to training your dog to travel describes.

Before You Leave the Surgery

Ask two last things. The first is what you should watch for after you come home, and for how long. Several of the diseases dogs catch abroad take months to show. ESCCAP's guidance is that a dog returning from a leishmaniosis area should be tested at least three months after it comes home, because an earlier test can miss it. Make a note of the date and put it in your diary.

The second is whether you can ring the practice from abroad. Most will give advice by phone to a registered client, and when your dog is ill in a strange town, the voice of the vet who knows it is a great comfort. Save the number in your phone before you go, along with the practice's email address, in case a foreign vet wants your dog's records sent over.

A Closing Thought

Half an hour with your vet, a month or more before you leave, is the best value there is in travelling with a dog. Go with your route written down, ask about fitness, vaccines, parasites, paperwork and medicines, and come away with a plan and a date for the next visit. Then the only thing left to do is look forward to the trip.