What the rules actually say.
The journal covers what does not fit on one route or one country: a change in the law, how a waiting period is counted, how the rules of different countries compare. Each piece is written from the official texts and quotes them, the way every rule on the site does.
Routes and layovers
Does a layover count? Istanbul, Dubai, Singapore, Tokyo
A change of planes can matter to two authorities: the country you connect in and the country you are flying to. Türkiye asks nothing of its own of a pet that does not enter the country. The United Arab Emirates asks for no permit inside one airport if the pet is kept apart from other animals. Singapore wants a licence even for a connection, and Japan no longer treats the stop as a transfer once the airline or the airport changes. The EU, New Zealand, Australia and, for dogs, the United States also look at where the pet stopped on the way.
Rule changes
The EU has a new pet travel law. These are the dates that matter.
Regulation (EU) No 576/2013 stopped applying to pet travel on 21 April 2026. The rules now sit in the EU’s Animal Health Law and three Commission regulations from 2026. For a dog or a cat the plan turns on a microchip, a rabies vaccine and a passport or health certificate. What you have to get right is a handful of dates and one way of counting days.
Routes and layovers
Flying to Great Britain with a pet: why not in the cabin, and the way in through the EU
A dog or a cat that arrives in Great Britain by plane travels as cargo, with two exceptions, and only on an airline and to an airport the authorities have approved. The same authorities approve sea and rail routes, among them ferries from France and the Netherlands and Eurotunnel Le Shuttle from Calais. A pet that flies into the EU and crosses from there meets two borders and two sets of rules. This is what each of them asks for.
Timing
The rabies titer test, explained: who asks for it, when to draw blood, how long you wait
A rabies antibody titer test is a blood test that shows a rabies vaccination has worked. Whether a dog or a cat needs one depends on where it is coming from and where it is going, and each destination runs its own clock. Some count the wait to the day you travel or arrive, the EU counts it to the day a certificate is issued, and Australia starts counting only when the sample reaches the laboratory.
Side by side
Which countries quarantine pets on arrival, and for how long
Some destinations keep a dog or cat in quarantine even when every requirement is met, and whether they do depends on the country the pet comes from. Others release a compliant pet on arrival and keep quarantine for the one that lands with something missing, in a few cases for months. This is what the official texts say, for the destinations entry.pet covers.