As a federally accredited veterinary practice, West Orange Animal Hospital can issue travel certificates for your healthy pet so they can travel internationally and domestically with you. A health certificate is a federal document generated by a federally-accredited veterinarian that ensures a pet has met certain health criteria. Interstate (usually by air) and international travel have strict rules that cannot be bent. Please research the requirements set by your destination site prior to travel.

Domestic Health Certificates:

Check with your airlines and state you’re driving through to see if they require a Health Certificate. Animal health requirements may differ state to state; even airlines have their own pet travel requirements. Click here to see the requirements for your destination state(s).

Most Health Certificates must be issued within 10 days of travel and have the following base requirements:

  • > 8 weeks old and full weaned
  • Passing health exam
  • Up-to-date Rabies vaccination
  • Negative heartworm test
  • Up-to-date on heartworm prevention

International Health Certificates:

International Health Certificates vary by country and can be quite complicated. As such, we cannot accommodate certificates as routine office visits and arrangements must be made in advance. Certificate timing varies greatly by country but often times these Health Certificates can take several months to complete – for example, travel to rabies-free countries such as New Zealand can take up to 7 months. We recommend that you contact us as soon as you have arranged your travel details so that we may assist you with the pet travel process. Please note that International Health Certificates are only offered for PREVIOUSLY ESTABLISHED patients. Click here to review the steps to obtain an International Health Certificate.

We will work with you to determine the health certificate requirements based on your travel destination. These requirements are determined by each country and change frequently. We suggest that you review the current pet health travel requirements for your destination country here. Be sure to provide the following information when you contact us so that we can better assist you:

  • The country of destination and your designated port of entry
  • The date of departure from the U.S.
  • Whether your pet will be traveling alone, as cargo, or with a person in the cabin of the plane
  • Airline information
  • Animal type (dog / cat)
  • Proof of Rabies vaccination (many countries will require proof of at least 2 vaccines prior to travel)
  • Microchip information