Poland is an easy country to enter and a hard one to enter early. There is no quarantine and no blood test, because Canada sits on the European list that exempts arrivals from titration. What Poland will not do is bend on age, and what Canada adds is an appointment with a fixed date that has to happen while your animal is still here.
The number to check before anything else is your animal’s date of birth. Poland runs no derogation for young unvaccinated animals, so a puppy or kitten cannot land before roughly 15 weeks of age. Families moving with a new litter usually find this out after the flights are booked.
Different destinations, different routes, different challenges.
Because a Polish arrival turns on your animal’s age and a Canadian departure turns on a booked appointment, we settle both dates before anything else is planned.
We read Poland's veterinary inspectorate for what happens on arrival and the CFIA process for what has to be done before departure, then give you one dated list.
We pick routings out of your nearest Canadian gateway and confirm the arrival airport is designated to receive animals, because not every Polish airport is.
Your coordinator books and pays the CFIA endorsement appointment and counts the certificate's ten days against your departure, so the two never drift apart.
Two clocks run on this route and they are not the same length. The first is your animal’s age: 12 weeks before the rabies dose can be given, then 21 days before that dose counts. The second is the certificate: it lives 10 days from the day your veterinarian signs it, and the CFIA endorsement has to happen inside those days and before your pet leaves Canada. Here is what we lock in for every Poland move:
To keep everything clear, we break the process into steps:
We check your animal's age and chip date first, because Poland will not admit a young animal without a valid rabies vaccination and the dose only counts from 12 weeks.
We hold the CFIA endorsement slot early, then arrange the examination and the flight around it so all three sit inside the certificate's ten days.
Your Canadian veterinarian scans the chip, gives or confirms the rabies dose, then completes the certificate, and the order is what makes it valid.
We read the certificate the way the officer at the Polish point of entry will, so the chip number, the dates and the declaration all say the same thing.
We match the kennel and the routing to the carrier, and to an arrival airport Poland has designated for animals.
We walk you through the border gate registration so nothing about the arrival is a surprise.
Poland is one of the EU countries that does not soften the age rule. Its General Veterinary Inspectorate states it plainly: Polish regulations do not permit young dogs, cats and ferrets to be brought into Poland without a valid rabies vaccination. Some member states run a derogation for animals under 12 or 16 weeks. Poland does not.
Work the arithmetic and the floor is firm. Rabies cannot be given before 12 weeks of age, and the vaccination is not valid for travel until 21 days after the course is finished. That puts the earliest lawful arrival at roughly 15 weeks, and only if the microchip went in first. A dose given before the chip does not count at all, and it cannot be backdated by repeating it.
For a family moving with a litter, or adopting a young animal shortly before a relocation, this is the fact that sets the departure date. We ask for the date of birth and the chip date in the first conversation, not the fifth.
A pet that meets the conditions is not held in Poland. There is no quarantine, and the border step is a documentary and identity check at a designated travellers point of entry rather than a stay.
What Poland does publish is what happens when the file is wrong, and it is worth reading once. Its veterinary inspectorate lists three outcomes: the animal is sent back to the country it came from, or it is isolated under official control at the owner’s expense until the health requirements are met, or it is put down without compensation. Those are the published consequences of arriving with a certificate that does not hold up.
We are not raising that to alarm anyone. It is the reason we read the certificate line by line before it goes to the CFIA, and the reason we would rather delay a flight by a week than send a file we are not sure of.
Before any appointment is booked, we confirm your pet’s position against the 2026 European regulations and the CFIA export process, rather than relying on a summary written under the rules they replaced.
| Requirement | Poland, from Canada |
|---|---|
| Marking your pet | A microchip, or a clearly readable tattoo, done before any other step. The CFIA is explicit that this comes before the rabies vaccination |
| Youngest age Poland accepts | Rabies cannot be given before 12 weeks, and 21 days must pass after it. Poland runs no derogation for younger unvaccinated animals, so roughly 15 weeks in practice |
| Rabies protection | Valid on the day of travel. A first course counts 21 days after completion; a booster given before the previous one lapses counts at once |
| Blood test for antibodies | Not required for pets travelling directly from Canada. Canada is listed in Annex II to Regulation (EU) 2026/636 |
| Which form | The EU animal health certificate for non-commercial movements, obtained from your local CFIA Animal Health Office |
| Who fills it in | A Canadian Licensed Veterinarian, who the CFIA treats as an Authorised Veterinarian for this certificate |
| Who endorses it | A CFIA veterinarian, by appointment. The CFIA cannot endorse a certificate once the animal has left Canada |
| How long the form lasts | 10 days from the Licensed Veterinarian’s signature. Reduced to 5 days for dogs entering Finland, Malta, Ireland or Northern Ireland, which does not apply to Poland |
| Moving on within the EU | Six months from the checks at the point of entry, or until the rabies vaccination expires, whichever is sooner |
| The form is changing | The CFIA accepts the previous certificate only where it is signed on or before 30 September 2026 |
| How many animals | Five in a single vehicle, unless public transport is used. Above five the movement becomes commercial, or needs a registered competition or exhibition and animals over six months old |
| Deworming | Not needed for Poland. The tapeworm treatment applies to Finland, Malta, Ireland and Norway |
| Where you arrive | A travellers point of entry Poland has designated, where the documents and your pet’s identity are checked |
| Holding on arrival | None where the file is in order |
| If the file is wrong | Poland publishes three outcomes: return to the country of origin, isolation under official control at the owner’s cost, or destruction without compensation |
| Time to allow | About 4 to 7 weeks, set almost entirely by how far ahead the CFIA endorsement appointment can be booked |
Four to seven weeks covers most Canadian moves to Poland, assuming the rabies vaccination is already in date. There is no titre to send away, so the calendar is the CFIA appointment book with an examination and a flight either side of it. If a booster is overdue, deal with that before anything else is scheduled.
The step that will not move is the endorsement. A Canadian Licensed Veterinarian is treated as an Authorised Veterinarian for this certificate, but a CFIA veterinarian still has to endorse it, by appointment, and the CFIA cannot endorse a certificate for an animal that has already left Canada. Book it before you book the flight.
One date is worth marking this autumn. The EU changed its certificate model, and the CFIA will accept the previous version only where it is signed on or before 30 September 2026. From 1 October a newly signed certificate has to be the new model. If your endorsement appointment sits in that week, we make sure the office is issuing the version your arrival date needs.
Planning the budget: See our breakdown of what pet shipping from Canada costs, fee by fee. Elsewhere in the EU: we also handle Germany and Ireland.
Our pet shipping cost calculator gives a working figure, and our CFIA health certificate guide explains the appointment. Norway is filed on its own CFIA certificate rather than the EU one, and our Norway page covers it.
Not yet, and Poland is stricter than most of the EU on this. She cannot be vaccinated against rabies until she is 12 weeks old, and the vaccination does not count for travel until 21 days after the course finishes, so the earliest she could lawfully arrive is around 15 weeks. Several EU countries operate a derogation that admits younger unvaccinated animals under conditions. Poland’s General Veterinary Inspectorate states that Polish rules do not allow young dogs, cats or ferrets in without a valid rabies vaccination. Tell us her date of birth early and we will build the departure around it.
No. The CFIA states it is not required for pets travelling directly from Canada, and the reason sits on the European side: Canada is listed in Annex II to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/636, which exempts animals coming from listed countries. That is what makes Poland a matter of weeks rather than months. Where it matters is transit. If your pet spends time in a country that is not listed on the way, the exemption is the thing to check before you book that routing.
Your own veterinarian does the work: a Canadian Licensed Veterinarian is treated as an Authorised Veterinarian for this certificate, so they scan the chip, confirm the rabies record and complete the form. A CFIA veterinarian then endorses it, at an appointment you book through your local Animal Health Office. The constraint to plan around is that the CFIA cannot endorse a certificate once the animal has left Canada, so the appointment has to sit before departure, and the whole thing has to happen inside the certificate’s ten days.
Ten days, counted from your Licensed Veterinarian’s signature to the documentary and identity checks when you land in Poland. After those checks it changes character: the same certificate then covers movement inside the Union for six months, or until the rabies vaccination expires, whichever comes first. So it is a tight document to get you there and a generous one once you have arrived.
Toronto Pearson and Montreal Trudeau carry the most useful options, with Vancouver working for some routings. Very few Canada to Poland itineraries are a single sector, so the connection matters as much as the departure. We check that the transiting carrier accepts your pet’s crate, that the connection is long enough to be handled properly, and that the arrival airport is one Poland has designated to receive animals, before anything is booked.
The EU moved to a new certificate model. The CFIA will accept the previous version where it is signed on or before 30 September 2026, and from 1 October a newly signed certificate has to be the new one. Nothing already signed is wasted, and there is no need to redo a certificate that is in hand. It only matters if your endorsement appointment falls in that week, in which case we confirm with the office which version they are issuing.
Canadian costs here are modest and mostly predictable. Your veterinarian bills for the examination and the certificate, the rabies vaccination if one is due, the microchip if your pet does not have one, and the CFIA endorsement fee, which an officer calculates and you pay online before the appointment. There is no laboratory bill on this route because there is no titre, and Poland charges nothing to check a compliant animal. What moves the total is the airfare and the kennel, and both track your pet’s size, the season and which Canadian airport you leave from.
We start with the date of birth and the chip date, because those decide whether the move is possible on your timeline at all. Then we hold a CFIA endorsement slot, arrange the examination and the certificate around it, keep every step inside the ten days, choose a routing that lands where Poland accepts animals, prepare the crate, and tell you what the check at the point of entry involves. One coordinator carries the file from the first call to the arrival hall.
Last updated 7 September 2026
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