A domestic move forgives a thin file, because the old practice is a phone call away. An international move does not: once she is living in another country, a missing summary can mean repeated tests, delayed care, or a new vet working blind. Prepare her summaries as a handover document for a practice that has never seen her.
Assemble a Complete Set for the Destination Practice
Collect, for each practice she attends, the newest summary, recording why she went, what the vet found, what remains pending, and when she is next due in. Request fresh copies rather than relying on the versions in your drawer, because a practice may hold a newer summary from a visit you have half forgotten, such as a follow-up call recorded as a consultation.
Put the set in date order with the newest summary first, and add a one-page cover note in plain language: her name, her age as recorded, each practice she attends, and a short list of anything still open. A receiving vet abroad reads that cover note first, and a clear one saves a long appointment spent reconstructing basics instead of examining her.
Deal With Pending Items Before You Travel
Read every summary for the word pending and its cousins: recheck due, results awaited, review booked. Each open item needs a decision before departure. Either complete it here, with the result added to the set, or carry it as a flagged handover item with the reason, the date it arose, and what the next step was meant to be.
Check that her next appointment does not fall in the gap between leaving one practice and registering with another, and say so on the cover note if it does. Confirm what the destination requires directly with its authority or with your new vet there, because entry and registration requirements vary by country and can change; never assume that what one country asked for is what another will accept.
Consider the language of the set as well as its contents. If her summaries are written in a language the destination vet may not read fluently, ask your current practice whether a short English summary of the key open items can accompany the set, or arrange a translation of the cover note at least. Keep the originals as the source of truth and mark any translation clearly as a translation. Also write weights and dates in full, with the month spelled out, because date formats differ between countries and a transposed day and month can quietly move an appointment by weeks. Do the same check for any practice she saw only once, such as an emergency clinic, because a single forgotten summary often holds the newest open item of all.
Carry the Set So It Survives the Journey
Travel with a paper copy in your hand luggage and a clear photographed copy you can reach from your phone, because checked baggage and delayed deliveries are the wrong place for her only medical history. On arrival, register her with the destination practice promptly and hand the set over at that first visit rather than waiting until she is unwell.
Keep updating the file after the move exactly as before, requesting each new summary and filing it at the front, so the set never becomes a snapshot frozen at the border. Her cross-border summaries travel as a single ordered set held by Pet Passport, and KinsLe keeps that set at hand from the last visit at home to the first visit abroad.