If you're flying with a pet, moving cities, or handing an animal to a new owner, someone will ask for paperwork. We issue it after examining the animal — which is the only way it means anything.
What we can issue
| Document | Used for |
|---|---|
| Fitness certificate for travel | Domestic air travel; issued close to the travel date |
| Health certificate | Rehoming, sale, boarding, housing societies, relocations |
| Vaccination certificate | The formal record — most often needed, most often mislaid |
Timing — where people come unstuck
Come earlier than you think. Two things go wrong at the last minute.
The first is a lapsed rabies vaccination. If it's out of date it has to be redone, and the airline or authority may require a minimum period to have passed since the shot — that can be weeks, not days. A rabies shot given the day before travel doesn't solve the problem.
The second is discovering the animal isn't fit to travel. We won't certify an animal we don't believe should fly. That's the point of the certificate.
Check your airline's specific requirements before you come, and bring them with you — they differ between carriers and change.
Microchipping
A microchip is a rice-grain-sized identifier placed under the skin between the shoulder blades. It's quick, done in a consultation, and needs no anaesthetic. It's increasingly asked for in travel paperwork, and separately it's the only permanent ID that survives a lost collar.
Registration matters as much as the chip. An unregistered chip, or one tied to a phone number you no longer use, does nothing. We'll take you through it.
What we don't handle
International export involves quarantine clearance, destination-country import permits, and often rabies antibody titre testing at an approved lab — a process that can run to several months. That's specialised and we're not set up to manage it end to end. If you're moving abroad, come and talk to us early anyway: we can do the examination, the vaccination record and the microchip, and tell you honestly what else you'll need to arrange.