Animal Health Certificates: The Complete Guide to Travelling from Great Britain to the EU with Your Pet
Last updated: 5 September 2026
If you’re taking your dog, cat or ferret from Great Britain to an EU country, the paperwork now matters as much as the packing list. Since the rules changed in 2026, an EU pet passport is no longer enough for GB residents — almost everyone travelling from England, Scotland or Wales to the EU now needs an Animal Health Certificate (AHC) for each trip.
The rules themselves are logical once you understand them, but they’re detailed. The timing of your pet’s rabies vaccination, their microchip records, your travel route, who’s travelling with them and even the country where you first set foot in the EU can all affect what paperwork you need.
The AHC requirements changed significantly in 2026. If you want the full detail on what’s different from the old system, our guide to the 2026 AHC changes covers that. This guide is the reference for what an AHC actually is, when you need one, and how to get through the process without a hitch.
At The London Travel Vet, we issue AHCs at clients’ homes across London, which means we deal with this paperwork — and the situations that complicate it — day in day out. This guide sets out what we’ve learned alongside what the current guidance says.
Animal Health Certificate: the essentials
Who needs one: owners in England, Scotland or Wales taking a dog, cat or ferret to an EU country for a non-commercial reason (holiday, relocation, and similar).
Who issues it: an Official Veterinarian (OV) — never online-only, and not every general practice vet holds OV status.
When it can be issued: within 10 days before your pet enters the EU. The day of issue counts as Day 1.
How long it lasts: 10 days to enter the EU; then up to 6 months for onward travel within the EU and for returning to Great Britain, provided your pet’s rabies cover doesn’t lapse.
How many pets: up to 5 on a single certificate, unless they’re registered for a competition, show or sporting event.
New trip, new certificate: an AHC can’t be reused for a later departure from Great Britain.
Route matters: your first point of entry into the EU can affect what’s required, even when it isn’t your final destination.
Someone else can travel with your pet — but specific timing and authorisation rules apply. See below.
What is an Animal Health Certificate?
An Animal Health Certificate (AHC) is the official veterinary document that allows a pet dog, cat or ferret to travel from Great Britain to the EU for non-commercial reasons. It’s signed by an Official Veterinarian (OV) and confirms your pet meets the relevant health requirements for that specific journey.
The certificate records:
your pet’s identification and microchip number
their rabies vaccination history
details of you as the owner, and the person accompanying the pet if that’s someone else
your travel route and destination
a signed declaration about the nature of the movement
veterinary certification that the requirements have been met
One AHC can cover up to five pets travelling together, provided each one individually meets the requirements.
An AHC is not a general-purpose travel document. It’s specific to non-commercial movement into the EU, and it’s issued fresh for every trip — you can’t reuse an old one, and you can’t get one “just in case” months ahead of travel.
AHC vs EHC vs pet passport — what’s the difference?
These three documents are often confused, but they serve different purposes:
Animal Health Certificate (AHC) — for non-commercial pet travel (dogs, cats, ferrets) from GB to the EU.
EU pet passport — GB-issued pet passports are not valid for travel from Great Britain to the EU. Some EU/NI-issued pet passports may still be accepted where the relevant requirements are met. Northern Ireland has separate arrangements and can continue to use EU pet passports in applicable circumstances.
Export Health Certificate (EHC) — used for commercial movements, and for exports to most destinations outside the EU. If you’re travelling somewhere other than the EU, an EHC or country-specific paperwork is usually what you need, not an AHC.
If you’re unsure which applies to your journey, tell us your full itinerary and we’ll confirm — see our Export Health Certificate (EHC) information if a change of ownership or a non-EU destination is involved.
When does my pet need an AHC?
If you’re travelling from Great Britain to an EU country with your dog, cat or ferret for a holiday, relocation, or any other non-commercial reason, you will need an AHC.
The exceptions are narrow. Travel to Northern Ireland uses a separate Northern Ireland Pet Travel Document, not an AHC. Commercial movements — a change of ownership, a sale, or certain rehoming journeys — fall under different rules entirely, and shouldn’t be treated as a standard AHC case. And journeys outside the EU are usually governed by an EHC or destination-specific certification, not an AHC.
The requirements depend on your specific journey — your starting point, your first point of entry into the EU, your final destination, and whether you’re transiting through other countries can all shape what needs to be in place. This is why we ask for a full itinerary rather than just a destination.
What does my pet need before an AHC can be issued?
The AHC itself can only be issued once your pet already meets the underlying requirements. There’s no shortcut around these.
Microchip. Your pet needs a working, correctly recorded microchip, implanted before or at the same time as their rabies vaccination. If the chip was fitted afterwards, the vaccination generally has to be repeated — this catches people out more often than any other single issue. We scan the microchip ourselves at your appointment to confirm it matches the certificate.
Rabies vaccination. Your pet needs an up-to-date rabies vaccination, or to have had it long enough ago for it to be considered effective. If this is your pet’s first rabies vaccination, a waiting period applies before an AHC can be issued — at least 21 full days after the vaccination, with the day after vaccination counting as Day 1 of that wait. A straightforward booster, given with no gap in cover, doesn’t require a further wait.
Vaccination history. If your pet has been vaccinated before, we’ll need to see that history to confirm continuous cover. A missed booster, a change of microchip, or a gap in the records can all affect what’s needed — flag any of this to us before your appointment rather than at it.
How far in advance can an AHC be issued?
An AHC can only be issued within the 10 days before your pet enters the EU, and the day it’s issued counts as Day 1.
So if your AHC is issued on a Monday, that Monday is Day 1, and your pet needs to enter the EU by the Wednesday of the following week at the latest.
This catches a lot of people out, because it’s tempting to think of “10 days before travel” as ten clear days in addition to the travel day. It isn’t. If your certificate is issued too early relative to your departure, it will have expired before you set off.
Because of this tight window, the certificate itself is time-sensitive — but there’s no reason the preparation has to be rushed. We review your pet’s rabies documentation, microchip details and route well before the 10-day window opens, so that by the time your appointment falls due, the certificate is essentially ready to sign, checked and certified rather than started from a blank form.
What happens at an AHC appointment?
At a London Travel Vet home visit, the appointment itself is the last step in a process that starts well before we arrive.
You book an appointment, and tell us your travel dates, route and who’s accompanying your pet.
We send you an information request covering your pet’s details, microchip, rabies history, destination, first point of entry into the EU, and travel arrangements.
You send us your rabies documentation — a clear photo or scan is fine at this stage, so we can prepare in advance. We do need to see the original at the appointment itself.
We prepare the AHC ahead of the visit, based on what you’ve sent us, so the appointment can focus on verification rather than paperwork from scratch.
We visit your home, scan your pet’s microchip, check the original rabies documentation, and complete the necessary checks.
The declaration is completed in line with the current requirements — more on this below, because it’s the part most owners have questions about.
The Official Veterinarian signs and certifies the AHC. You keep the original to travel with; we retain the records we’re required to keep.
You leave with a completed certificate rather than a stack of forms to interpret yourself.
How long does an AHC appointment take?
Because most of the preparation happens before we arrive, the appointment itself is usually straightforward. How long it takes depends on how many pets are being certified, whether their microchip and rabies records are complete, and whether your journey involves anything out of the ordinary — a multi-country route, an authorised person, or a transport company, for example. Appointments where the documentation is clear and complete are generally the quickest.
How much does an Animal Health Certificate cost?
Cost depends mainly on the number of pets on the certificate and how much notice we have before your appointment. Unusual travel arrangements or additional checks can also affect it. See our current Animal Health Certificate pricing for up-to-date figures rather than a fixed number here, since it varies by circumstance.
Owner, authorised person, and the person accompanying your pet
This is the section of the AHC that generates the most questions, and it’s worth understanding properly.
Does the person travelling with my pet need to attend the appointment? Not necessarily — the arrangements distinguish between the person responsible for the declaration and the person who physically travels with the animal. Whether a particular arrangement works for your specific certificate depends on the circumstances, so the practical answer is: tell us who owns the pet, who’s travelling, and how the two journeys relate in time, and we’ll confirm exactly what’s needed for your case rather than you having to work it out from general guidance.
Under the rules, if someone other than the owner is travelling with the pet — an “authorised person” — that pet must travel within five days of the owner’s own journey, and the person accompanying it needs to carry written permission from the owner. This applies whether the accompanying person is a partner, a family member, a friend, or a professional pet transporter.
What happens if that five-day gap is exceeded, or there’s no written authorisation? If the five-day requirement isn’t met, the movement may no longer qualify as a non-commercial pet movement and different rules and certification can apply. This is not something to leave until the border — contact us before travelling if the timing between the owner’s journey and the pet’s journey is likely to exceed five days.
What’s the difference between the two declarations on the certificate? Every AHC includes a general declaration — signed by whoever is responsible for the pet’s journey — confirming it isn’t being sold or rehomed abroad. Where the pet is travelling under an authorised person rather than the owner, an additional declaration is required covering that authorisation and the timing of the owner’s own journey. Exactly how this is presented on the current certificate can involve some case-by-case detail, so if an authorised person is involved, we’ll talk you through precisely what your certificate needs.
Can someone else travel with my pet? Yes. It’s common, and it’s provided for in the rules — but the paperwork needs to reflect it accurately. Tell us at the time of booking if the owner won’t be the one travelling.
What if my spouse or partner has a different surname to me? This doesn’t prevent the journey. It’s a routine situation, but the AHC needs to correctly show who owns the pet and who is authorised to accompany it, so give us the full picture — don’t assume the names need to match.
What if a professional pet transport company is involved? This is provided for too. The rules recognise that a company may nominate an individual — a courier or transporter — to carry out the move on the owner’s behalf. If you’re booking through a transport company, tell us at the outset so we can set up the paperwork correctly rather than treating the transporter as if they were the owner.
What if the person accompanying my pet changes after the AHC is prepared? Contact us before you travel. A change of traveller can affect the declaration and the written authorisation that needs to accompany the pet — it isn’t something to sort out at the border.
Why your first EU point of entry matters
Your final destination isn’t necessarily the country your AHC needs to be prepared around. If you’re flying to Spain but landing first in France, France is your first point of entry into the EU. That matters when preparing your AHC and assessing the requirements that apply to your route, even though Spain is your final destination.
Always tell us:
where your journey starts
your first point of entry into the EU
your final destination
any countries you’ll transit through
how you’re travelling at each stage
Certificate language requirements can also depend on the country of entry, which is another reason a vague “we’re going to Europe” isn’t enough for us to prepare your paperwork properly. If your route changes after your AHC has been issued, let us know — a different point of entry can change what’s required.
How long is an AHC valid?
There are two separate periods here, and confusing them is one of the most common mistakes pet owners make.
10 days, for entering the EU. Your pet must enter the EU within 10 days of the AHC being issued, with the day of issue counting as Day 1.
Six months, for onward travel and return to Great Britain. Once your pet has entered the EU, the same certificate remains usable for up to six months — for further travel between EU countries, and for your pet’s return to Great Britain — provided your pet’s rabies cover doesn’t lapse in the meantime. If the rabies vaccination expires while you’re away, the certificate can no longer be used for onward travel or for coming home, regardless of how much of the six months is left, so it’s worth checking your pet’s vaccination expiry against your full trip length before you go, not just against your outbound date.
What this doesn’t mean is that you can keep using the same AHC for future departures from the UK. Every new trip from Great Britain to the EU needs its own, freshly issued certificate. The six-month allowance only covers what happens after you’ve already entered the EU on that trip.
Returning to Great Britain with your pet
Does my dog need tapeworm treatment to come home? For most routes, yes. Dogs returning to Great Britain need treatment against the Echinococcus multilocularis tapeworm, given by a vet and recorded on the pet’s travel document.
The 24–120 hour window. The treatment must be given no less than 24 hours, and no more than 120 hours (five days), before your dog’s arrival back in Great Britain. Treat too early or too late and the treatment won’t count — there’s no flexibility built into this window, so it needs planning around your actual arrival time, not just your departure date from wherever you’ve been.
Exceptions. Dogs travelling directly to Great Britain from Finland, Ireland, Malta, Norway or Northern Ireland don’t need this treatment — these countries carry the same low-risk status the treatment exists to manage. If your journey passes through other countries on the way back, though, your full route needs checking, because transiting somewhere else can change what applies.
Do cats or ferrets need tapeworm treatment? No — the requirement is specific to dogs. Cats and ferrets otherwise follow the same microchip, rabies and AHC requirements as dogs, but tapeworm treatment isn’t part of their travel documentation.
Some of these same countries (Finland, Ireland, Malta, Norway and Northern Ireland) also require tapeworm treatment for dogs entering them, so if your outbound journey takes you there, that’s a separate check from the one on your way home.
Travelling through several EU countries
A trip like UK → France → Spain → Portugal → France → UK isn’t treated the same as a simple return journey to one country. For example: a family driving from London to Portugal via France and Spain enters the EU at Calais — that’s the point of entry their AHC needs to be prepared around, not Portugal. If they then fly home from Lisbon through a different airport, that’s a separate point of re-entry to Great Britain, with its own tapeworm timing to plan around.
Things to work through on any multi-country trip:
your first point of entry into the EU
every country you’ll pass through
any country-specific treatment or documentation requirements
your return route and point of re-entry to Great Britain
whether your AHC (still within its six-month onward-travel window) and tapeworm timing both hold up across the whole itinerary
This is where giving us your complete route — not just the headline destination — genuinely changes what we prepare.
Can I use an AHC to travel outside the EU?
No, not as a rule. An AHC is built for non-commercial movement into the EU. If you’re heading somewhere outside the EU, you’ll typically need an Export Health Certificate or country-specific documentation instead — which might involve additional testing, import permits, or quarantine arrangements depending on the destination.
Establish your destination country’s requirements well ahead of travel, since they vary considerably and an AHC issued for EU travel won’t substitute for them. Depending on your journey, you may also need a Fit to Fly certificate, OV66 documentation, or an RNATT (rabies neutralising antibody titre test) — these are separate from the AHC and apply in different circumstances, so check with us if you’re not sure which your journey needs.
Common AHC mistakes
Leaving it until the last 10 days. The certificate is time-limited, but there’s no reason your preparation should be. Start early enough to fix problems before they become urgent.
Getting the rabies or microchip sequence wrong. A chip fitted after vaccination, a missing record, or a lapsed booster are the most frequent causes of a delayed or refused certificate.
Forgetting the first point of entry. Your destination and your entry point aren’t always the same country — tell us both.
Assuming every EU country has identical rules. The core requirements are harmonised, but individual countries can add their own on top.
Misreading the six-month rule. It covers onward EU travel and return to Great Britain on the same trip — not future departures from the UK.
Getting the tapeworm window wrong. 24 to 120 hours before arrival, no exceptions to the timing itself.
Assuming the traveller has to be the owner, or has to attend the vet appointment. Neither is automatically true, but the paperwork needs to reflect the real arrangement.
Not realising the five-day rule has consequences. If the owner and pet are separated by more than five days, or there’s no written authorisation, the movement can stop qualifying as non-commercial travel altogether.
Not telling your vet about a change of plan. A different route or a different accompanying person after the certificate is prepared can mean the declaration no longer matches reality.
How The London Travel Vet handles your AHC
We prepare as much of the certificate as possible before we ever arrive at your door. In practice, that means reviewing your route, checking your rabies documentation against the requirements, and identifying anything unusual — a transport company, a different accompanying person, a multi-country itinerary — before the appointment, not during it.
At the visit itself, we scan your pet’s microchip, check the original rabies certificate, complete the declaration correctly for your circumstances, and certify the AHC. You’re left with a completed original to travel with, and we keep the records we’re required to retain.
We can’t determine or guarantee what a destination country’s border authorities will require beyond the EU’s harmonised rules; that’s genuinely outside what an AHC covers, and any pet travel provider telling you otherwise is overstating what the document does. What we can do is make sure the certificate itself is accurate, complete, and ready in time for your journey as you’ve described it to us. If your itinerary changes after booking, tell us — it may change what’s needed.
Book an Animal Health Certificate appointment with The London Travel Vet →
Not sure which document your pet actually needs? Contact us before you finalise your travel arrangements.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does an AHC cost?
It depends on the number of pets and the timing of your appointment. See our current AHC pricing for details.
How long does an AHC appointment take?
It varies with the number of pets, the completeness of their records, and the complexity of your journey. Because most of the paperwork is prepared beforehand, the home visit itself is generally efficient.
Can I send my rabies certificate before the appointment?
Yes — a clear scan or photo in advance helps us prepare, but we still need to see the original document at the appointment.
Does my pet need a microchip?
Yes, and it needs to have been implanted before or at the same time as the rabies vaccination.
How far before travel can an AHC be issued?
Within 10 days of your pet entering the EU. The day of issue is Day 1.
How long can I use an AHC?
Up to six months after entry into the EU, for onward EU travel and for returning to Great Britain — but you’ll need a new certificate for your next trip out of the UK.
Do I need a new AHC every time I travel to the EU?
Yes, for every new departure from Great Britain.
Can someone else travel with my pet?
Yes, but the pet must travel within five days of the owner, and the accompanying person needs written permission from the owner. Outside that window, the journey may no longer count as non-commercial travel.
Does the person travelling with my pet need to attend the appointment?
Not necessarily — but tell us the arrangement in advance so the declaration reflects it correctly.
Can a pet transport company be involved?
Yes. Tell us at booking, particularly if the individual who’ll physically accompany your pet isn’t confirmed yet.
What if the accompanying person changes after the AHC is issued?
Contact us before travel — this can affect the declaration and the written authorisation that needs to travel with your pet.
Does my dog need tapeworm treatment?
For most routes home to Great Britain, yes — between 24 and 120 hours before arrival. Finland, Ireland, Malta, Norway and Northern Ireland are exceptions.
Do cats or ferrets need tapeworm treatment?
No, this requirement applies to dogs only.
Can The London Travel Vet arrange documentation for travel outside Europe?
Yes. We can advise on what’s needed, but most non-EU destinations require an Export Health Certificate or other country-specific paperwork rather than an AHC. Tell us where you’re planning on travelling and we can help you sort out the required documentation.
Pet travel paperwork has got more detailed since 2026, not less. If you’re travelling from London to the EU with your dog, cat or ferret, we can prepare and certify your Animal Health Certificate at home, on a timeline that fits your trip.
Book your Animal Health Certificate appointment — or get in touch first if you’re not sure exactly what your pet needs.