Travelling With Your Dog Or Other Pet – Essential Tips

We know from our own experience that when preparing to travel with a dog or other pet there is a lot to think about.

We thought about our own experiences and concerns and came up with this list of tips to help your planning. We hope it might even ease your pet travel worries. These tips are not aimed at any specific form of transport so hopefully they will be of interest whether you are driving, taking a ferry or even a plane with your beloved dog or other pet.

Your dog will need to be chipped to travel under a pet passport, but get a simple tag for their collar anyway. You don’t need to put the dog’s name on it (some say this could help a dogknapper), but make sure your phone number has some kind of country indication.

Take a recent photo of your dog or pet with you. This will be invaluable should you lose them!

Take a supply of your pet’s normal food. Even if you can’t carry enough for the full trip, you can mix it with local food to slowly move your pet onto a ‘foreign’ diet.

Give your dog or pet something soft to lie on in the back of the car.

If your car has aircon, then get it working! Open windows will not cut it when you are stuck at a French tollbooth in 30 degrees centigrade.

Carry more drinking water than you think you need.

Keep the pet passport documents in easy reach. Check, check and check again that the paperwork is in order

If you are travelling with a cat, then get a proper cat carrier. Do not risk your cat jumping around the inside of the car (it will only be funny until you crash).

Carry a simple pet first aid kit (watch out for our forthcoming article).

If you have satnav or phone navigation, then try to download vet surgeries as Points of Interest along the route of your trip.

Make sure your dog or pet is acclimatised to car journeys. This is probably not the time to take a puppy or newly rescued dog on vacation!

Consider overnight journeys. The car will be cooler, the roads quieter, the ferries cheaper and your dog or pet far more likely to be asleep.

Get a set of solar shades for your car side windows.

Get a rear window car sun shade.

Get a simple car harness for your dog.

Remember that you need to see a vet 24-48 hours before you return to the UK. Don’t plan your trip so you are trying to find a vet on a Sunday!