Many owners want to spend the best time of the year with their pets. If you want to go on holiday with your dog or cat, you should plan your holiday well in advance. There are many pet-friendly hotels and campsites, but it is advisable to find out in advance whether your four-legged friend is also welcome there. For seaside holidaymakers with water-loving dogs, it is important that a dog beach is also available so that you and your pet can enjoy swimming together.

In general, you should weigh up before each trip whether the duration of the trip and the stay at the destination justify taking your pet with you. Especially for cats, the journey itself means a lot of stress. Once they arrive at the holiday destination, they must familiarise themselves with the new environment. This acclimatisation is only justified if the stay is long enough.

If a stay abroad is planned, you should have familiarised yourself with the relevant entry regulations before starting your journey. A valid EU pet passport (for dogs, cats, and ferrets), identification of the animal by implantation of a microchip under the skin, a valid rabies vaccination and a treatment against echinoccus (fox tapeworm) carried out shortly before entry and documented in the EU pet passport are minimum requirements. After travelling to non-EU countries, the EU pet passport is mandatory for re-entry into the EU.

Before stays in southern (Italy, Greece, Portugal, France, Spain) and south-eastern countries (e.g., Hungary) it is important to inform yourself in advance about effective protection against travel diseases. Our animals can become infected with diseases that do not occur in our country. Mostly these are parasites transmitted by ticks, mosquitoes, and sand flies. Since our animals have not yet had any contact with the pathogens when they are infected in the holiday area and therefore do not have their own immunity, these diseases often run a very dramatic course in our animals. The most important diseases are dirofilariasis (heartworm disease), leishmaniasis, babesiosis (dog malaria) and ehrlichiosis. Since some of these diseases often break out months after the stay abroad, we often do not associate them with travel sickness.

To prevent infection with these pathogens, adequate tick and mosquito protection should be guaranteed. This can be done in the form of spot-on preparations or collars. You should also avoid leaving your dog outside at dusk and dawn, as butterfly mosquitoes, the carriers of leishmaniasis, are particularly active at this time of day. If you have the possibility to leave your dog at home, please use this possibility for the protection of the dog.

On the homepage of the parasitological expert organisation (ESCCAP) you will find important information about parasites and the individual protective measures for the respective travel destinations.

www.esccap.de

If you still have questions, we will be happy to advise you extensively before or after your stay abroad.