DIY Pet Relocation vs Hiring a Company: How to Decide

Do the international move yourself or hire a company? Handling it yourself is realistic for easy destinations like Canada or Mexico if you are organized and start early. Hiring a full-service, IPATA-member relocation company usually pays off for rabies-free destinations, tight timelines, snub-nosed breeds, or cargo-only routes, where a single paperwork slip can mean quarantine or refused entry.

An international pet move is really two problems stacked together: a paperwork problem governed by government rules that change, and a logistics problem governed by airlines and crates. Some owners enjoy managing both. Others would rather pay a specialist to carry the risk. This article is the make-or-buy decision only. For the full step sequence, see the guide to relocating a pet internationally. Whichever route you choose, confirm the current rules with a USDA-accredited vet and on the destination government's official page before you rely on anything here, because import requirements are revised often and vary sharply from one country to the next.

If you decide to hire, the next fork is marketplace versus full-service booking.

Students weighing cost against convenience will find our guide to studying abroad with a pet useful.

What a full-service pet relocation company actually does

It helps to know what you are buying before you decide whether to buy it. A full-service pet relocation company is a project manager for the move. It does not replace the government process or the vet, but it runs the whole schedule so you do not have to hold every deadline in your head. A good one typically handles most or all of the following on your behalf:

Researches the destination country's exact, current requirements and flags the rabies category that decides how hard the move will be.

Files the destination import permit where one is required, and times it so it does not expire before travel.

Books and schedules the rabies antibody titer test at an approved lab and tracks the waiting period that follows.

Schedules the USDA-accredited vet exam and the USDA APHIS endorsement of the export health certificate inside the tight window before departure.

Arranges an IATA-compliant crate, a pet-approved flight and routing, customs clearance, and arrival handling or quarantine check-in at the other end.

None of this is magic you cannot do yourself. The value is in knowing each country's quirks, catching timing conflicts early, and owning the consequences if something goes wrong. The US Department of Agriculture is clear that APHIS endorses export paperwork but does not approve entry, so the destination country still decides at the border. A company's job is to make sure nothing on your side gives that border officer a reason to say no. What a company cannot do is override a government rule or promise your pet will be admitted, and an honest one will tell you so up front.

Companies also vary in how much they take on. Some are full door-to-door operators that manage the pet from your home to the arrival airport and beyond. Others act more like consultants who prepare the documents and coordinate the vet while you handle the flight day yourself. When you compare quotes, be precise about which tasks are included, who is physically with your pet at each handoff, and what happens if a connection is missed. The cheapest quote is not a bargain if it quietly leaves the riskiest steps on your plate.

When doing it yourself is realistic

Self-managing a pet move is very doable for the right destination and the right owner. The single biggest factor is where you are going. Straightforward destinations such as Canada, Mexico, and much of the European Union from the United States generally do not require a rabies titer, a long waiting period, or an import permit for a compliant pet. In those cases the core task is a current ISO microchip, a rabies vaccination given after the chip, and a health certificate completed close to travel and endorsed by USDA APHIS. That is a manageable checklist for an organized person with a few weeks of lead time.

DIY tends to work when most of these are true: the destination is low-difficulty, your timeline has slack, your pet is a healthy adult of a non-brachycephalic breed, your airline allows the routing you want, and you are comfortable reading government pages carefully and calling to confirm. The USDA's Pet Travel site lets you look up requirements country by country, which is the backbone of any self-managed move. If you have the time and the temperament for detail, doing it yourself also saves the service fee, which on complex routes can run into the thousands.

The honest catch is that DIY asks you to be your own project manager for weeks or months. You have to sequence the microchip before the rabies vaccine, book the titer at the right moment, watch the health-certificate window at the end, and re-verify each rule in case it changed since you started. Owners who miss on an easy route usually lose only a little time and a re-issued form. If that describes your move and you have the patience for detail, self-managing is a perfectly sound choice.

When hiring a company usually pays off

The case for hiring gets stronger as the stakes and the complexity rise. Rabies-free and rabies-controlled destinations such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, and Hawaii combine a titer test, a waiting period that can reach 180 days, an import permit, and sometimes quarantine on arrival. The steps must happen in the right order and in the right windows, or the clock resets. A mistake there does not just cost money, it can cost your pet weeks in a quarantine facility or a denied entry. Paying a specialist to carry that risk is a rational choice.

Hiring also tends to pay off when your timeline is tight and you cannot afford a retry, when your pet is a snub-nosed breed that many airlines restrict or refuse in cargo, when the route is cargo-only or requires a layover in a third country with its own transit rules, or when you simply do not have the hours to project-manage a six to seven month process. A company's real product is not the paperwork itself but the reduced chance of a costly error, plus someone accountable if a flight is cancelled or a form is questioned at the border. It cannot, and an honest one will not, guarantee an outcome, because the destination government has the final say.

There is also a middle path worth knowing about. Some owners hire a company for the single hardest piece, often the titer scheduling or the import permit for a rabies-free destination, then handle the simpler steps themselves. Others use a company only for the arrival leg in a country whose customs process is unfamiliar. You do not have to choose all-DIY or all-outsourced. If most of the move is easy but one part frightens you, ask whether an operator will handle just that part.

A side-by-side decision guide

Weigh your own situation against the factors below. If most of your answers land in the right-hand column, hiring is likely worth the fee. The table is a starting point, not a verdict, since one high-stakes factor such as a rabies-free destination or a brachycephalic breed can outweigh several others on its own.

Factor | Lean DIY | Lean hire a company
Destination difficulty | Canada, Mexico, much of the EU (no titer or permit) | Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, Hawaii (titer, permit, quarantine)
Your lead time | Weeks of slack, flexible dates | Tight or fixed relocation date with little margin
Breed and health | Healthy adult, non-brachycephalic | Snub-nosed breed, senior, or special medical needs
Route | Direct, cabin-eligible or simple cargo | Cargo-only, multi-leg, or a third-country transit stop
Your time and comfort | Enjoy detail, can call authorities to confirm | No time to manage a months-long process
Risk tolerance | Can absorb a delay or a redo | Cannot risk quarantine, refusal, or a reset clock

How to vet a relocation company before you sign

If you decide to hire, the quality of the operator matters more than the price. The pet-shipping industry is largely unlicensed, so do your own diligence. A widely used signal is membership in the International Pet and Animal Transportation Association (IPATA), a trade body whose members agree to a code of conduct. IPATA's own guidance on choosing a shipper recommends confirming credentials, asking for references, and getting the full quote in writing. Before you commit, check that a company:

Is a current IPATA member you can verify on the association's member directory, not just a logo on a website.

Carries insurance and can explain in plain terms what it covers and what it does not.

Provides verifiable references or reviews from recent clients who moved to a similar destination.

Gives a written, itemized quote with no vague surcharges, and does not promise a guaranteed entry or a specific quarantine outcome.

Communicates clearly about the timeline and tells you honestly when a date is not achievable.

For a fuller framework, see our guide to choosing a pet transport company, and read one worked example in our PetRelocation review. Whoever you consider, the same rule applies: a credible operator educates you about the risks rather than promising they do not exist. Be especially wary of any quote that seems far below the rest of the market, since deep-cargo international moves have real fixed costs that a legitimate operator cannot wish away.

Weighing the cost against the value

Cost is usually the deciding factor, so be honest about the full picture. DIY is not free: you still pay for the microchip, vaccines, the titer test and its lab fee, the import permit, the vet exam and USDA endorsement, the IATA crate, and the flight. Hiring adds a service fee on top of those hard costs, and that fee scales with the difficulty of the route. For a full comparison of what the underlying charges look like, see our breakdown of international pet shipping cost.

The right way to frame the decision is not "cheapest" but "cost of a mistake." On an easy route, a mistake usually means a corrected form and a short delay, so DIY carries little downside. On a rabies-free route, a mistake can mean months of quarantine, a failed titer that restarts a 180-day wait, or a pet turned away at the border. When the downside is that severe, the service fee starts to look less like a luxury and more like insurance against your own busy schedule. Owners facing that scenario are exactly who full-service relocation companies exist to serve, and requesting a quote costs nothing and commits you to nothing.

It also helps to put a rough value on your own hours. A self-managed move to a rabies-free country can absorb dozens of hours across research, phone calls, vet visits, lab coordination, and airline booking, often spread over half a year. If those hours are scarce or stressful for you, the fee may simply buy back time you would rather spend on the human side of an international move. If you have the hours and find the process manageable, keeping that money makes just as much sense. Neither answer is wrong; the point is to decide deliberately rather than by default.

A note on the current US rules

One reason many owners now lean toward help is that the rules keep moving. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its requirements for dogs entering the United States effective August 1, 2024, and revised them again in 2025. That affects the return leg for anyone moving abroad temporarily and re-importing later, and it is a reminder that even the country you started in can change its terms while you are gone. Rules like these are exactly what a specialist tracks for a living, and exactly what a DIY mover has to keep checking. Either way, treat every timeline and fee in this article as a typical example, not a promise, and confirm the current requirement on the official source before you book anything.

Frequently asked questions

Is it cheaper to move a pet internationally myself?

Usually yes, because you avoid the relocation company's service fee and pay only the hard costs like the vet exam, titer test, permit, crate, and flight. On easy destinations the savings can be worth the effort. On complex, rabies-free routes the service fee often buys real risk reduction, so cheapest is not always the best value.

What does a pet relocation company actually do that I cannot?

Nothing you legally cannot do yourself, but a good company manages the whole project: it files the import permit, times the titer and its waiting period, schedules the USDA vet and APHIS endorsement, and arranges an IATA crate, a pet-approved flight, and arrival handling. Its real value is catching timing conflicts and owning the risk if something goes wrong.

When is hiring a pet relocation company clearly worth it?

Hiring tends to pay off for rabies-free or quarantine destinations like Australia, New Zealand, Japan, or Hawaii, for tight timelines, for snub-nosed breeds that airlines restrict, and for cargo-only or multi-leg routes. In those cases a single paperwork error can mean quarantine or refused entry, so paying a specialist to carry that risk is reasonable.

How do I know a pet relocation company is legitimate?

Confirm the company is a current, verifiable IPATA member, carries insurance, and can provide references from recent clients who moved to a similar destination. Ask for a written, itemized quote. Be cautious of any operator that guarantees entry or a specific quarantine outcome, since the destination government, not the shipper, makes the final call.

Can a relocation company guarantee my pet gets into the country?

No honest company can. USDA APHIS endorses your export paperwork but does not approve entry, and the destination government decides at the border. A reputable company can dramatically lower the chance of an error and give you someone accountable, but it cannot promise an outcome. Always confirm the current rules on the destination's official page.