5th. Plan your trip in advance

When you are planning a trip, it is necessary to contact the veterinary. Choose an hotel that accepts pets.


If you leave the country, know what are the health requirements of countries that you want to visit and if it is necessary to pay a tax.


The most common requirements are: import permit, quarantine upon arrival, official documents validated by the Veterinary Authority of the country of origin, health certificate, (different models depending on the country of destination), validated by the Health Authority of the country of origin, with or without notarized signature of the embassy, anti-parasitic treatment, restriction to only one pet per person, etc..

If your pet travel by plane, he could go in 3 different ways;

1.Taking pet as baggage in the cabin

So, if you can take your pet with you in the cabin, each airline has its own criteria. Some airlines will accept pets weighing up to 5-7kg, others until 8-10kg up, (always including the weight of the animal and transport box).
When arriving at the destination, you need to pass by the health authorities and submit all documentation that should be prepared at home.
In some cases, traveling with the pet in the cabin is not recommended. Some pets are very agitated, anxious, barking or howling too, should not go in the cabin. Furthermore, it is important to consider that it will take longer to cool the animal because of several factors such as light, the noise, the smells of food, etc.

2.Taking pet as baggage in the cargo hold

If your pet has more than 10kg, (or in some airlines from 5kg), needs to go in the cargo hold of the plane. The cargo compartment is pressurized and air conditioned just like the cabin. The only difference are the lights off, (or reduced), and the fact that he will be alone during the trip.
In this case, you check-in with him, just as if he goes in the cabin. However, you need to delivered him to the airline staff, and taken to be accommodated in the cargo hold of the plane.
Pets tend to travel more comfortable. That's because its transport box can be much more spacious, (since there are no limits as restricted in size), it has water available throughout the trip, and can have up to a feeder attached to the kennel.
Arriving at the destination, the passenger disembarks and goes to wait for the bags, meanwhile an official of the airline will seek your pet. On output, it is necessary to pass by the health authorities of the country, presenting the documentation prepared at home.

Note: When you take your pet as accompanied baggage, he will go along with you on  the same flight.
You do check in with the pet, and the airline will charge a fee as special baggage.

3.Taking pet as live charge, (manifest charge)

The method of live charge, since it has greater control over the whole process, is the only accepted in some countries.
Attention; countries of Union Territory only accept taking animals as live charge if they come from certain countries named in;
• Part B, Section 2 of Regulation No 998/2003.
• Part C of Annex II of Regulation No 998/2003.
• Annex II of Regulation No 206/2010.

When your pet travels as manifest office live, (or live load), the trip is considered a foreign trade transaction, even if the sender and recipient are the same person. For this reason, all required documentation is much more complex, and it is impossible to be done by an ordinary citizen. By law, you must hire a customs broker to perform the shipment for you. He will be responsible for issuing all necessary documents for the flight, schedule and monitor veterinary inspection carried out by an official veterinarian of the Ministry of Agriculture, pay all fees and effectively deliver the animal to the care of airlines.
Unlike the method of accompanied baggage, the pet does not check in at the passenger terminal of the airport, but by the cargo terminal.
Each airline has its own rates for boarding, charging different rates for each destination, with the price of air freight calculated by a number of factors including animal weight, volume kennel, distance to destination, liters of fuel costs, among others.
On landing, the release process is a bit more complicated because it involves not only health authorities, but also the customs authorities. Normally you need to pay a small fee for release.