Travelling with your pet: the car, the plane, and when to leave them home

The first question isn't how to travel with your pet. It's whether to. A confident dog who has ridden in cars since puppyhood is fine on a road trip. A twelve-year-old cat who has left the house four times in her life will have a far better week with a sitter in her own kitchen than in your holiday rental.

Cars are a training problem, not a travel problem, and two weeks fixes most of it. Sit in the parked car with the engine off and feed dinner there. Next day, start the engine and turn it off again. Then drive to the end of the street and come home. Then drive somewhere good. If every journey your dog has ever taken ended at the vet, you have taught him exactly what a car means. Travel on a light stomach: a small meal three to four hours before, not thirty minutes before.

Restraint is not optional. A loose 20 kg (44 lb) dog in a 50 km/h (30 mph) impact hits the back of your head with the force of well over half a tonne. Use a crash-tested carrier strapped to the seat, a secured crate in the boot, or a car harness clipped to the seatbelt. A cat always travels in a carrier, with the seatbelt threaded through the handle — never on a lap, never in front of an active airbag.

The rule that saves lives: never leave an animal in a parked car. Not for five minutes, not with the windows cracked, not in the shade. On a 24°C (75°F) day the inside of a car can pass 40°C (104°F) within half an hour, and dogs shed heat badly.

Flying is a bigger decision than most people realise. In-cabin travel — a small animal in a soft carrier under the seat, usually up to around 8 kg (18 lb) including the bag — is stressful but manageable. The hold is a different thing: loud, dark, unattended, with loading and unloading on tarmac that may be freezing or blazing. Ask the airline direct questions before you book.

Some animals should not fly in the hold at all. Flat-faced breeds — bulldogs, pugs, French bulldogs, Persian and exotic cats — already breathe with almost no margin, and heat plus stress removes what's left; many airlines ban them outright, for good reason. Think hard before flying a very old, very young, unwell or highly anxious animal. Sedation is generally advised against for air travel because it affects breathing and temperature control, and that call belongs to your vet, not to a forum.

Documentation is its own project and it differs everywhere. Expect some combination of: a microchip meeting the destination's standard; a rabies vaccination given after the chip, with a minimum waiting period; sometimes a blood titre test; sometimes a parasite treatment inside a fixed window before arrival; and a health certificate signed by an approved vet close to the date. Some of these have lead times measured in months. Check the destination's official requirements yourself and start three to six months out.

So — take them, or leave them? Take them if the trip is long, if they travel well, and if they won't spend the days shut alone in a strange room. Leave them if the journey is harder than the separation. A sitter in their own home, with their own smells and routine, is not a failure of love; for many animals it is the kinder half of the decision.