Podcast #10: Pets on tour: what to know before taking your pet on holiday

Written by Napo HQ

19th Aug 2022

25 mins listen

Available on

It’s prime holiday season, and for those of us with pets that presents a dilemma - do we take our furry friends with us, and how can we do it with ease and safety in mind?

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach, but to help you work out the best course of action we speak with wonderful Veterinary Behaviourist Dr Sophie White on The Pet Perspective.

Join us to help break down the barriers to holidays with your pet, how you can prepare them for tricky travel, options that suit individual pets’ needs, and more!

This episode of The Pet Perspective covers:

Options to soothe pets who don’t handle journeys well.
How early preparation can ease the travel process.
Which guidelines to check for health and vaccination info.
Scenarios in which you should consider leaving your pets at home.
The best cat/dog hotel option, from catteries and kennels to home visits.

Episode highlights

3:10 - Dr Sophie White

“People often don't think about the process from the animal’s point of view. If you need to go abroad, you do need to have seen your vet recently, they might need injections, they're going to need to go. So if even the first step is really stressful for your pet, if they hate going to the vets, that's a first stressor.”

6:00 - Dr Sophie White

“What you need to think about is that it's actually got nothing to do with the UK’s guidelines, it's all about the country you're going into. You also want to consider whether you are going through other countries, and whether you're going to be stopping or driving through them, in which case you need to follow their guidelines as well.”

9:20 - Dr Sophie White

“It's really about planning in advance because you can't suddenly make them like the car. There's no shortcut to that.”

13:00 - Dr Sophie White

“I actually spend quite a bit of time convincing quite a lot of my clients not to take their dogs on holiday with them. They often have put a huge amount of time and energy and emotional input into their dogs. Having a dog that has challenging behaviour is really hard, and they've done an amazing job and put a huge amount into it. But they need a break as well.”

15:30 - Dr Sophie White

“Sometimes when we look after other people's cats and things, we might not see them, they might disappear off and hide, or they might be out when we get there. Actually then we're not really checking on them, we're just putting some food down. They need to be seen at least once a day.”

19:00 - Dr Sophie White

“Think about your dog as an individual. It's not about what we think would be nice. So we might think being in someone's house would be lovely, but not if you actually don't like other dogs, and they've got dogs there. Maybe they've got kids and you're not used to kids, or you just like your own space.”

22:00 - Dr Sophie White

“The vast majority of dogs are okay, as long as they're put in a nice environment and they're prepared for it. Most of them cope better than we expect. It's unusual, I think, for things to go worse than we'd expect when we leave our pets in kennels.”

24:20 - Dr Sophie White

“The thing is about finding out that individual approach. I think the better you understand your pet, the better you're going to be able to suit their needs.”

Keeping your pet safe on holiday

All Napo pet insurance includes travel cover to the EU. So even if you go abroad, we can keep your pet protected. You’ll also get access to free services like vet video calls, handy for when you’re away from your usual vet!

Tell us what you think

If you have a topic you'd like us to discuss in a future episode of the podcast, or if you have any questions for our guests, let us know on Instagram or Facebook.