Swine Flu Concerns When Planning International Pet Travel

Hi.  In about 1 week we are moving our dog from Australia to Poland (stopovers in Singapore, Heathrow & Frankfurt I think) -- but we're scared that the airports will be in such a panic over Swine Flu that they might detain (or worse) pet travellers. I expect I'm just being overly concerned, but my question is: have you heard anything regarding pet travel during a (potential) pandemic outbreak? Cheers, Mikey

With the first reported US death from swine flu taking place in Texas this week, concerns about swine flu and travel have been growing.  It's natural to assume that if swine flu can jump from a pig to a human, perhaps it could affect live animals or pets. 

However, as MSNBC has reported, swine flu has not been shown to affect domestic pets.  From their report:

There is no evidence whatsoever of any risk for animals that has come up. The main problem with this is that it's a virus that seems to have originated in pigs and became capable of infecting human beings. There are flu viruses that preferentially affect cats and dogs, but that's not what we're talking about here.

With this in mind, you should not have any issues traveling with your dog.  Additionally, as a company so far, we have not run into any problems moving dogs & cats since the outbreak.  Pigs, of course, might be a different story!