Forget the Kennel. Your Pet Is Coming With You.
Some trips are non-negotiable. The new job in another country, the extended sabbatical in Costa Rica, the six-month adventure you’ve been planning for years…. And if you’re the kind of person who books hotels based on their pet policy, leaving your pet behind was never part of the plan.
Your pet is going with you. That part’s decided. The question is how to get them there without the paperwork nightmare, the cargo stress, or the three-hour Google spiral trying to figure out what Customs actually requires at your destination.
Whatever the reason, your pet is coming with you. Now what?
Travel with an animal across state lines or international borders isn’t as simple as buying them a ticket. There’s paperwork with hard deadlines, health requirements that vary by country, and a whole lot of logistics standing between your living room in Danbury and wherever you’re headed. That’s exactly why we connected with Avolar Pets — a team that has been moving animals around the world for over a decade and genuinely treats every pet like it’s their own.
Who Is Avolar Pets?
Avolar wasn’t built by people who stumbled into the pet travel industry. Their leadership team came out of one of the largest corporate pet relocation companies in the world, where they spent years handling moves for Fortune 500 clients and their families. They’ve seen what happens when the paperwork is wrong. They’ve seen what stress does to an animal in cargo. And they built something better because of it.
They’re fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, which matters more than you’d think when you’re navigating customs requirements in another country. They’re members of IPATA, the International Pet and Animal Transportation Association. And they’re meticulous in a way that will make you exhale when you hand your pet over to them.
How Does Pet Travel Work?
Avolar offers several ways to work with your pets depending on how much of the process you want to manage yourself.
About Those Charter Flights
Here’s the part that genuinely surprises people. Avolar offers Shared Charter flights on private jets where your pet rides in the cabin with you. Not underneath you. Not in a kennel being loaded onto a cart with the luggage. Right next to you, the whole flight.
Dogs travel on a leash on the floor beside your seat. Cats stay in a soft carrier at your feet. You can see them, talk to them, and actually enjoy the trip together instead of spending four hours wondering if they’re okay down in the hold.
These are shared charters, meaning Avolar sells individual seats and pet spots on each route rather than requiring you to book an entire jet. Once a flight reaches its minimum passenger and pet threshold, it’s confirmed and you’re good to go. If a flight doesn’t fill, you’ll be notified at least 21 days in advance with the option of a full refund or a spot on a future flight. Avolar is confident in the demand for these routes, but they’d rather tell you early than leave you scrambling.
The Part We Handle: Health Certificates
Before your pet goes anywhere internationally, they need a health certificate issued by a USDA-accredited veterinarian. Not every practice holds that accreditation — Danbury Animal Hospital does. We issue these certificates regularly, we know what each destination requires, and we submit them directly for USDA APHIS endorsement so you don’t have to navigate that process yourself.
Timing matters here more than most people realize. Four months is not too early to start for international travel. Some destinations require rabies titer testing that has to be completed well in advance, and the certificate itself has a validity window that has to align with your actual departure date. We’ve seen people come to us two weeks out from an international move and it’s a stressful situation that’s very avoidable.
When you’re working with Avolar on transportation, we coordinate with their team directly so the documentation and the travel timeline are built together, not retrofitted to each other at the last minute.
We have a dedicated page on pet travel certificates if you’re looking for the full picture on that process.
