Taking pets to North America is far simpler than flying them to the UK. Paperwork for USA and Canada travel can be processed in less than a week.

For travel to the UK you will need to start the process six to eight months in advance. However, once a pet has the correct paperwork for UK travel, as long as booster vaccines are administered regularly, pets will remain eligible for travel for several years, advises staff from the Cayman Animal Hospital.

Travel to the UK
For travel to the UK with pets visit www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-pets/pets/travel to check for any updates. Be aware that booking pets on the BA flight to UK is very expensive and needs to be organised well in advance – last minute plans are not possible.

At the time of writing, requirements were:

• The pet needs to be micro-chipped with an ISO chip.
• The pet then needs two rabies vaccines administered 30 days apart. These are given at the Department of Agriculture (Tel: 947 3090)
• A minimum of 21 days later, you must take your pet to a vet for the rabies titer blood test. Allow 7-14 days to for results.
• If your pet passes the titer test, he or she will be eligible to enter the UK under the PETS travel scheme six months from the date the blood was taken.
• It is possible to fly your pet into the UK before the six months have elapsed, however your pet will remain in quarantine until the full time period has passed.
• 24-48 hours prior to departure you will need to visit the vet to obtain a Health Certificate for your pet. For this you will need:
• Proof of date pet was micro-chipped
• Original rabies vaccine certificates
• Original rabies titer test results
• UK address with postcode and phone number
• You will then need to make an appointment at the Department of Agriculture to have the documents endorsed.

Cayman Airways Cargo, located near the airport fire station, handles pet travel on BA. Go in person between 8.30am – noon Monday-Friday and speak to Leonardo.

Travel to the USA or Canada – not returning to the Cayman Islands
If you do not plan to bring your pet back into the Cayman Islands, the process for flying a pet to the US or Canada is much more straightforward:

• Take your pet to the vet for a full physical examination in order to be issued a Health Certificate.
  The Health Certificate will be faxed to the Department of Agriculture for approval and an export permit will be issued to you. Allow three working days for this to be processed.
  Official papers will need to be collected from the Department of Agriculture in Lower Valley.
  Once issued, the health certificate is valid for 14 days. Therefore your outbound travel date must be within 14 days of issue.

Travel to the USA or Canada – returning to the Cayman Islands
If you would like to travel to the US or Canada but be able to re-enter the Cayman Islands with your pet, steps 1-3 for travel to the UK are the same: microchip, two rabies vaccines and the rabies titer blood test.

If your pet passes the titer test, he or she will be eligible to travel between Cayman and Canada/USA immediately. In order to travel you will then need to:

• Take your pet to the vet for a full physical examination in order to be issued a health certificate.
• The health certificate will be faxed to the Department of Agriculture for approval and an export permit will be issued to you. Allow three working days for this to be processed.
• Official papers will need to be collected from the Department of Agriculture in Lower Valley.
• Health certificates are valid for 14 days. You may therefore travel out and back within the 14 day period on the same certificate provided that:
• Frontline Plus is applied during veterinary appointment
• Vet administers an oral de-wormer

If the trip exceeds 14 days you will be required to see a USDA vet in the US or Canada to get a Health Certificate issued to come back in. You will need to submit the new health certificate to the CI Department of Agriculture for approval and to receive an import permit. Contact Department of Agriculture for more details on how to do this.

**Up to date C.I.D.A pet passport holders will not need to submit this second certificate to the Department of Agriculture but instead must carry it with them along with their pet passport for inspection at the airport. When accompanied by the new Health Certificate, the passport is your import permit.

 In the event that you need to travel before receiving the results of the rabies titer test, you may do so provided that:

You understand that your pet cannot return to the Cayman Islands until you receive the successful rabies titer test results.
If your pet fails the rabies titer test, your pet will have to remain in the USA/Canada while it is revaccinated for rabies and repeats the rabies titer test. It will then be six months from the date the blood was tested before your pet can re-enter the Cayman Islands.