Getting there without a car

1. Ask the facility first

More facilities offer pickup and drop-off than advertise it. It rarely appears on a website, partly because capacity is limited and partly because it's often arranged informally for regular clients.

It's usually the best option available, for reasons that have nothing to do with price:

• The driver works for the facility and is accountable to someone you can already reach
• Your animal is covered by the facility's insurance for the whole journey, not handed between two policies
• The person collecting knows where they're going and what happens at the other end

Worth asking even where it isn't offered publicly. The answer is often "not usually, but for a regular client, yes" — and it costs one question.

2. Rideshare and taxis

Most rideshare apps now have a pet option of some kind, and taxis vary by driver. For a cat in a carrier or a small dog on a short trip, either is perfectly reasonable.

The limitations are worth knowing before you're standing on a pavement:

• Drivers can decline. Pet policies are generally at the driver's discretion, and a cancellation while you're standing outside with a crated animal is a bad position to be in
• No securing. A standard sedan has no crate anchoring and no barrier. For a large or anxious dog in traffic, that matters
• No plan if things go wrong. A driver who's never handled a panicking animal is not equipped for one

Service animals are a separate matter — they must be carried under federal law regardless of any pet policy.

3. Specialist pet transport

A real service, and a thin one. Most operators are one person with one vehicle, which means quality varies enormously and there's no cover if they're ill.

Before booking, ask:

Ask	Why
Do you carry commercial auto insurance that covers live animals?	Personal auto policies typically exclude animals transported for a fee. Ask to see the certificate from the insurer, not a photograph
How is the crate secured?	An unsecured crate is a projectile in a collision and offers no protection
Will other animals travel at the same time?	Shared transport is common and often fine — but you should know, particularly for a nervous or reactive animal
What's the climate control arrangement?	Rear cargo areas are not always heated or cooled the way the cab is
Can we meet first?	Anyone confident in their service will say yes. It's also better for your animal
What happens if you're ill on the day?	Sole operators frequently have no answer. Knowing that in advance is the point

4. One federal check you can make yourself

Anyone who takes custody of an animal for shipment on a public carrier — airport collections, unaccompanied flights — must register with the USDA as a Class H intermediate handler under the Animal Welfare Act. Registration is free to the operator and the register is public.

Two things to understand about what it does and doesn't mean:

• It applies to shipping, not local driving. A perfectly good driver taking your dog across town has no reason to be registered, and its absence isn't a red flag
• Where it does apply, it's verifiable. If someone is handling airport work or unaccompanied travel, registration is a genuine federal requirement rather than a claim

Boarding itself is exempt from the Animal Welfare Act entirely — it regulates buying, selling, transporting and exhibiting animals, not looking after them and giving them back. That's why no federal register of boarding facilities exists, and why licensing falls to states.

5. Driving them yourself

• Crate secured, or a proper harness anchored to a seatbelt — a loose animal is dangerous to itself and to you
• Cats in a carrier, always, and belted in
• Don't leave them in the car, even briefly, even with windows down
• Light meal beforehand, or none
• Allow more time than the journey needs — arriving flustered transfers straight to the animal

If they get car sick

Travel sickness is common, and more so in young animals — many puppies and kittens grow out of it as the inner ear develops. It also isn't always nausea. A lot of what looks like car sickness is anxiety, and the two need different handling.

Signs to watch for: drooling, lip-licking, yawning, whining, restlessness, or going very still and quiet. Vomiting is the obvious one, but the earlier signs usually come first and are easy to miss.

What tends to help:

• Travel on an empty-ish stomach. A light meal three to four hours before, or none — but don't withhold water
• Face forward, and low. A crate on the floor behind a front seat moves less than one on a back seat
• Cool air and a window open slightly. Airflow and equalised air pressure both help
• Fewer visuals. A partially covered crate reduces the moving scenery, which is a common trigger
• Smooth driving. Gentle braking and wide turns matter more than route length
• Short practice trips. If the only car journeys an animal takes end somewhere stressful, the car itself becomes the trigger

If your pet reliably gets sick in the car, speak to your vet before the journey rather than after. There are effective prescription anti-nausea medications for dogs and cats, and they need to be given well in advance of travel — usually a couple of hours. Human motion-sickness remedies should never be given without veterinary direction; several are unsafe for animals at any dose.

Tell whoever is driving. A facility driver or transport operator would far rather know in advance — it changes where they put the crate, how they drive, and what they bring. And tell the facility too, so a wobbly arrival isn't mistaken for illness.

What we're recording

Whether a facility offers pickup and drop-off is one of the attributes we ask about, because it's rarely published and it changes which places are realistically available to someone without a car. Where a facility has told us, it's on the listing.

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Last reviewed August 2026 · General information only. Insurance and registration requirements change; verify current status directly.