United Kingdom pet travel requirements

Microchip your pet

Your pet needs a microchip before, or on the same day as, its rabies vaccination. Staff on approved routes read microchips that meet ISO 11784 and 11785; with another kind you may have to bring your own reader. The vet records the microchip number and date in the pet passport or health certificate.

Dogs / Cats / Ferrets · Origin group: EU or Part 1 listed country: pet passport accepted / Part 2 listed country: Great Britain pet health certificate, no blood test / Country not listed: rabies blood test and a 3-month wait · Entry pathway: Pet travel rules: no quarantine

A pet whose microchip can’t be read on arrival is refused entry or put into quarantine.

A legible tattoo applied on or before 3 July 2011 can replace the microchip, if the rabies vaccination was given after it.

Source: GOV.UK (Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Rabies vaccination

The vet vaccinates against rabies after the microchip, when the pet is at least 12 weeks old, with an inactivated or recombinant vaccine approved in that country. After the first vaccination (or the last dose of the first course), wait at least 21 full days before arriving in Great Britain, or longer if the vaccine maker says so. Keep boosters up to date: a booster given before the last one runs out needs no new wait.

Dogs / Cats / Ferrets · Origin group: EU or Part 1 listed country: pet passport accepted / Part 2 listed country: Great Britain pet health certificate, no blood test / Country not listed: rabies blood test and a 3-month wait · Entry pathway: Pet travel rules: no quarantine

Record the current vaccination date and actual valid-until date. The first-course 21-day wait is not restarted only when complete records prove every booster was given before previous cover expired. Unknown status is conservatively treated as primary or restarted cover; a gap cannot be cured by selecting the booster option.

Heathrow’s animal reception centre counts the vaccination day as day 0 and allows arrival after 21 days, one day earlier than GOV.UK’s example; we use GOV.UK’s later date.

Use the actual valid-until date in the vaccination record. The planner does not invent a one-year duration when it has not been supplied.

Canvac R: the pet must be at least 17 weeks old to travel (21 weeks for Canvac DHPPiL+R), after the full number of doses.

The record must show the vaccine maker and product name, the batch number, the dates the vaccination is valid from and until, and the vet’s signature.

Vaccine-specific schedules may be longer: GOV.UK says Canvac R requires two primary doses 2–4 weeks apart if first given under 5 months (minimum travel age 17 weeks), and Canvac DHPPiL+R for dogs requires three doses 3 weeks apart (minimum travel age 21 weeks). Ask the vet to check the product and valid-from date; the standard timeline does not model vaccine brands.

Source: GOV.UK (Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: City of London Corporation (Heathrow Animal Reception Centre) · Checked Oct 26, 2026

Rabies blood test at an EU-approved lab

For primary or restarted cover, your veterinarian takes a blood sample at least 30 days after the qualifying rabies vaccination and sends it to an EU-approved laboratory. An earlier qualifying sample remains usable only with the documented uninterrupted vaccination chain described below. The result must be at least 0.5 IU/ml. The vet gives you a copy of the result and enters the sample date in the health certificate. Wait 3 months from the day the blood was taken before you travel. A previously passing, legally qualifying titer may predate the currently recorded booster if the full rabies cover remained continuous. The veterinarian must verify the earlier sample met its original vaccination interval, approved-laboratory and result requirements. Continuous-booster status does not waive those original requirements or preserve an old sample after a break in cover.

Dogs / Cats / Ferrets · Origin group: Country not listed: rabies blood test and a 3-month wait · Entry pathway: Pet travel rules: no quarantine

The result stays valid as long as the rabies vaccination never lapses.

There’s no 3-month wait if the pet was vaccinated, blood tested and given a pet passport or Great Britain pet health certificate in the EU before going to the country that isn’t listed; our dates don’t assume this.

We count the 3 months to the same date: blood taken on 1 November means travel from 1 February.

Keep the current booster date as the vaccination fact; do not replace it with an earlier primary date to force the timeline to accept an old sample. Supply the complete earlier vaccination and titer records to the certifying veterinarian.

Source: GOV.UK (Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Pet travel document from the EU or a passport-issuing country

Bring the original pet passport, issued by an authorised vet in an EU country or another country that issues pet passports. Check it shows your signature in the ownership section (passports issued from 29 December 2014), the pet’s description and microchip, the rabies vaccination and, for dogs, the tapeworm treatment. Only a vet in a passport-issuing country can enter the rabies vaccination.

Dogs / Cats / Ferrets · Origin group: EU or Part 1 listed country: pet passport accepted · Entry pathway: Pet travel rules: no quarantine

Instead of a passport you can use a Great Britain pet health certificate, a pet passport issued in Great Britain before 1 January 2021, or an animal health certificate (AHC) issued in Great Britain in the last 6 months.

A rabies vaccination entered by a vet outside the passport-issuing countries can stop the pet from travelling.

Bring originals, not copies, and earlier passports if the pet had a blood test.

Source: GOV.UK (Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: GOV.UK (Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: GOV.UK (Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Great Britain pet health certificate, signed by an official vet

An official vet authorised by the government of the country you leave from signs, stamps and dates the Great Britain pet health certificate. Attach the owner’s declaration, a certified copy of the vaccination record and, if the pet needed a blood test, the lab report. The pet must enter Great Britain within 10 days of the date the official vet issues it.

Dogs / Cats / Ferrets · Origin group: Part 2 listed country: Great Britain pet health certificate, no blood test / Country not listed: rabies blood test and a 3-month wait · Entry pathway: Pet travel rules: no quarantine

By sea, the 10 days are extended by the length of the sea crossing.

We count the issue date as day 0, so a certificate issued on 1 February is good for entry up to 11 February.

If the pet changes planes in a country that isn’t listed, it must stay on the plane or inside the airport, and you may be asked for a signed declaration saying so.

If your vet isn’t an official vet, they ask the local authority to sign, stamp and date it.

Great Britain pet health certificate (non-commercial movement of dogs, cats and ferrets)

Source: GOV.UK (Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: City of London Corporation (Heathrow Animal Reception Centre) · Checked Oct 26, 2026

Sign the non-commercial declaration

Sign a declaration that you won’t sell or transfer the pets. With a Great Britain pet health certificate it’s the declaration attached to the certificate; with a pet passport use the GOV.UK form. The person travelling with the pets keeps it. You, or someone you’ve authorised in writing, must travel within 5 days of the pets.

Dogs / Cats / Ferrets · Origin group: EU or Part 1 listed country: pet passport accepted / Part 2 listed country: Great Britain pet health certificate, no blood test / Country not listed: rabies blood test and a 3-month wait · Entry pathway: Pet travel rules: no quarantine

If the pets arrive more than 5 days before or after you, or you’ll sell, rehome or transfer them, the commercial (Balai) import rules apply instead.

Declaration for the non-commercial movement of animals

Source: Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) · Checked Oct 26, 2026

Source: GOV.UK (Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: GOV.UK (Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency) · Checked Oct 21, 2026

Book an approved route and company

Pets can only enter Great Britain with an approved airline, ferry, cruise or rail company on an approved route. By plane, pets travel as manifest cargo in the hold, except on a chartered private plane or with an assistance dog. Before booking, ask the company whether it takes your pets, how many, and whether it wants a vet’s fit-to-fly letter.

Dogs / Cats / Ferrets · Except when all of these apply: (Departure countries/regions: IE, JE, GG, IM) · Entry pathway: Pet travel rules: no quarantine

APHA updates the approved lists often (last on 23 October 2026); check with the company that it’s still approved.

Assistance dogs can use more routes and travel in the cabin; tell the airline or ferry company at least 48 hours before you travel.

Eurostar doesn’t take pets on trains to or from London.

Source: GOV.UK (Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) · Checked Oct 26, 2026

Source: Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) · Checked Oct 26, 2026

Source: Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) · Checked Oct 26, 2026

Source: GOV.UK (Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency) · Checked Oct 26, 2026

Source: Eurostar · Checked Oct 26, 2026

Arrange customs clearance on arrival

Coming from outside the EU, your pet is only released after it has been through customs. You can usually pay an agent, the airline or your travel company to do this. At Heathrow you must appoint a UK customs agent: airlines don’t let private owners clear pets themselves.

Dogs / Cats / Ferrets · Origin group: EU or Part 1 listed country: pet passport accepted / Part 2 listed country: Great Britain pet health certificate, no blood test / Country not listed: rabies blood test and a 3-month wait · Except when all of these apply: (Departure countries/regions: AT, BE, BG, HR, CY, CZ, DK, EE, FI, FR, DE, GR, HU, IE, IT, LV, LT, LU, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SK, SI, ES, SE, AX) · Entry pathway: Pet travel rules: no quarantine

If no one can do it for you, contact customs at your arrival point before you travel, or the National Clearance Hub (nch@hmrc.gov.uk).

Source: GOV.UK (Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: City of London Corporation (Heathrow Animal Reception Centre) · Checked Oct 26, 2026

Source: City of London Corporation (Heathrow Animal Reception Centre) · Checked Oct 26, 2026

Book an authorised quarantine carrier and premises, and get a landing licence

Book a quarantine carrier and quarantine premises authorised by Defra. Then ask the premises for the ‘Application for a Licence to Land an Animal for Detention in Quarantine’, fill in part A and send it back. You’ll get a landing licence, a boarding document and a rabies cargo sticker to show the transport company. The carrier meets the pet at the port or airport and takes it to quarantine; you can’t take it there yourself.

Entry pathway: Can’t meet the rules in time: rabies quarantine / Rabbit: 4 months’ quarantine

The pet must arrive at Calais Eurotunnel (for Folkestone), Dover Eastern Docks, Harwich, Hull, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Glasgow Prestwick, Leeds Bradford, Gatwick, Heathrow or Manchester.

Source: GOV.UK (Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

From Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man: no pet travel certificate

For a cat or ferret arriving in Great Britain from Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man, GOV.UK explicitly says no pet passport or health certificate is needed. Its quarantine guidance also explicitly exempts cats, dogs and ferrets travelling between the UK and the Channel Islands or Isle of Man from rabies quarantine. Check the transport company’s own carriage requirements before travelling.

Cats / Ferrets · Departure countries/regions: GG, IM, JE

Source: GOV.UK (Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: GOV.UK (Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Microchip and document checks on arrival

When you arrive, the pets’ microchips and documents are checked; by sea or LeShuttle this may happen before you board. A pet without the right documents, or not properly prepared, can be put into quarantine for up to 4 months or sent back to where it came from (by sea, refused entry), at your cost.

Dogs / Cats / Ferrets · Origin group: EU or Part 1 listed country: pet passport accepted / Part 2 listed country: Great Britain pet health certificate, no blood test / Country not listed: rabies blood test and a 3-month wait · Entry pathway: Pet travel rules: no quarantine

A pet whose microchip can’t be read is refused entry or put into quarantine.

Source: GOV.UK (Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: GOV.UK (Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: GOV.UK (Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Rabies quarantine from arrival

A dog, cat or ferret stays in quarantine until it meets the pet travel rules, for up to 4 months, or until you send it back; a rabbit stays 4 months. The premises’ vet decides when it can be released. You pay for any medication, and for a longer stay if there’s a rabies risk at the premises.

Entry pathway: Can’t meet the rules in time: rabies quarantine / Rabbit: 4 months’ quarantine

Source: GOV.UK (Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency) · Checked Nov 12, 2026