Acquiring a Canadian Pet Passport in 2023: Your Comprehensive Guide

Touring with pets generally is a very irritating course of. Not solely do you must fear about your pet’s security throughout transit however guaranteeing all the correct paperwork is secured earlier than your departure may also be taxing.

If you happen to’re touring from Canada together with your pet sooner or later, you’ll want documentation to make sure hassle-free entry into your vacation spot nation. The identical applies in the event you export your pet from Canada to a different nation. Learn on to study what you’ll have to export and import your pet to and from the Nice White North.

The best way to Get a Pet Passport If You’re Leaving Canada

Canada does problem an official passport in your pet to make use of when touring. Nonetheless, you will want to get a number of paperwork in your pet earlier than they’ll journey. Listed here are a number of the steps you will want to observe to make this occur:

1. Do Your Analysis

Earlier than leaving the nation, contact your vacation spot nation’s embassy to search out out its necessities for bringing animals into their nation. Every nation has its personal guidelines, so familiarize your self with them earlier than departing. You might have to pay for added testing, vaccines, or remedy earlier than importing your pet into one other nation. Some additionally require pet homeowners to submit an import allow in addition to an export certificates.

ginger cat and woman in bed with laptop
Picture Credit score: Konstantin Aksenov, Shutterstock
thematic break

2. See Your Veterinarian

Many nations settle for the Canadian Worldwide Well being Certificates for people touring with their cats and canines. The certificates should be stuffed out by an authorized veterinarian and printed on authorized paper to be accepted. You’ll not want to offer this certificates in the event you’re touring to a rustic that gives its personal well being certificates or these with particular veterinary certificates with the Canadian Meals Inspection Company (CFIA). You will discover the bilingual Canadian Worldwide Well being Certificates here and the trilingual certificates here.

thematic break

3. Verify Canada’s Import Guidelines

Canada has particular import necessities for any particular person bringing a pet into the nation. Your pet might be faraway from Canada if you don’t meet the factors. Importing canines into Canada will, typically, require a sound rabies vaccination certificates or Rabies Nation-Freedom Certificates in the event you’re touring from a rabies-free nation like Finland, Eire, or Australia.

Importing cats into the nation may even require a sound rabies vaccine or a veterinary certificates, which you’ll be able to acquire out of your vet. If you happen to’re offering the veterinary certificates, you could even have documentation stating that rabies has not occurred in your nation of origin for at the very least six months earlier than your animals enter Canada.

a woman with laptop and notepad in the kitchen
Picture Credit score: EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA, Pexels
thematic break

4. Go On-line

The Authorities of Canada has an entire section on its web site to make this straightforward for pet homeowners. First, you could reply a number of questions in regards to the pet and your travels, comparable to its age, what kind of animal you’re touring with, and why you’re bringing the pet into the nation (e.g., private, business, or help animal). When you’ve answered these questions, you’ll be supplied with the precise necessities to enter Canada.

For instance, people with a canine 8 months or older touring for private causes from the USA will want a sound rabies vaccine certificates. The canine should additionally seem wholesome and be transported humanely. Nonetheless, people attempting to deliver a turtle or tortoise into Canada won’t be allowed until they’ll show they’re a part of a zoo or search laboratory and supply the correct import allow for mentioned animal.

3 cat divider

Touring to Nations With out a Certificates

If you happen to’re touring someplace that has no negotiated export certificates and doesn’t present one, you’ll have to take issues into your individual fingers. Contact the veterinary authorities or embassy in your vacation spot nation to acquire a listing of the present import necessities.

woman in red sweater watching laptop beside white cat
Picture Credit score: Karolina Grabowska,

Touring With Unique Pets

People touring with unique pets might have a Conference on Worldwide Commerce in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) allow to journey to sure nations. CITES is a treaty established to guard endangered vegetation and animals to make sure the survival of the species. People importing or exporting a species listed underneath CITES would require a allow to journey as it’s illegal to deliver any animals or vegetation on the listing throughout worldwide borders in the event you don’t have the proper documentation.

Canadian unique pet homeowners can acquire a Certificate of Ownership from Surroundings Canada in the event that they journey in another country with their pets usually.

If you happen to’re touring briefly together with your CITES-listed pet, we suggest making use of for a CITES Certificates of Possession. This certificates is named a “pet passport” and might be legitimate for 3 years, permitting certificates holders to export and re-import a number of instances. Sadly, not all nations settle for CITES Certificates of Possession. We suggest trying out the national CITES authorities web page in your vacation spot nation to search out out who you’ll contact to see what documentation you must journey together with your pet.

CITES-listed pets embrace:

  • Many parrots
  • Many lizards
  • Many turtles
  • Hybrid cats
  • Some snakes
  • Some fish

You possibly can try the CITES species database to see in case your pet is listed.

cat paw divider

Closing Ideas

Acquiring a Canadian pet passport generally is a prolonged course of, so the earlier you may get began, the higher. Paperwork can take a very long time to course of, particularly if touring to a rustic with much less simply accessible embassies or veterinarians. Additionally, ensure your pet is up to date on its vaccinations and schedule a visit with your vet effectively earlier than your departure so you may get the inexperienced mild from the physician that your cat is good to travel.

thematic break

Featured Picture Credit score: New Africa, Shutterstock