Pet Transport Services in Canada
Pet Travel Advisors is a pet transport service for moves within Canada, from Canada to the United States, and from Canada to the rest of the world. We move dogs, cats, birds and small exotic pets door to door, with one coordinator responsible for the route, the crate, the airline booking and the paperwork from the first call to the handover.
If you are comparing services, it helps to know how a pet move works before you compare quotes, because a quote only makes sense once you can see what it pays for. This page sets that out in the order it gets decided: which route you are on, how your pet will fly, the parts that are genuinely hard, and what to send us to start.
Three Routes, Three Sets of Rules
Every move is on one of three routes, and each is governed by different authorities. Knowing which one yours is on tells you who writes the rules, how long the planning takes, and what can stop the trip.
Within Canada
Nothing leaves the country, so a move between provinces needs no CFIA export certificate. The rules that apply come from the province your pet is arriving in and from the airline, and the planning is mostly about the season, the crate and the aircraft.
Canada to the United States
The United States sets the rules, and the CFIA says it has no role in exporting dogs and cats there. A dog that has only been in Canada for the past six months needs a CDC Dog Import Form receipt, a microchip a universal scanner can read, and to be at least six months old.
Canada to Abroad
The destination country sets the rules. Your veterinarian completes its health certificate and the CFIA endorses it, and some destinations add an import permit, a rabies titre test with a wait measured in months, or a requirement that pets arrive as cargo.
Each route has a guide of its own. Moving pets across Canada covers a move between provinces, including rules such as Ontario’s requirement that dogs and cats be vaccinated against rabies from three months old. Flying a pet from Canada to the United States sets out the CDC’s rules and the airline’s. For a move overseas, our international pet shipping service explains the export side in full.
Cabin, Checked Baggage or Cargo
This is the part that clears up the biggest misunderstanding, so it comes early. A pet can fly three ways, and two of them put the animal in the same hold. What separates those two is how the pet was booked.
Take a small dog on a flight from Toronto to Vancouver. Under the seat in front of you, on your ticket, it is travelling in the cabin. In the hold, still on your ticket, it is checked baggage. In the same hold, booked as its own shipment on an air waybill, it is cargo. Same dog, same aircraft, and three different sets of rules, fees, check-in desks and handlers responsible for it. The pet carrier size checker on our US site sets IATA’s minimum for your dog or cat beside the under-seat limits that Canadian and US airlines publish.
In the Cabin
A cat or small dog in a carrier under the seat, booked with your ticket. Air Canada and WestJet each publish a carrier size. Air Canada’s general limit is 40 cm wide, 43 cm long and 20 cm high, with exceptions on some aircraft, and WestJet’s is 41 cm long, 21.5 cm high and 25.4 cm wide.
As Checked Baggage
Your pet flies in the hold on your own booking, so you have to be on the flight. The restrictions are each airline’s own. Air Canada’s published rules keep snub-nosed dogs out of its baggage compartment, and it accepts no pets as checked baggage from 18 December to 4 January, a window Air Canada Cargo’s restrictions give as 15 December to 12 January.
As Cargo
Your pet travels as a separate shipment on its own air waybill, with or without you on the same aircraft. It is how a pet flies when you are not on the flight, it is collected from a cargo facility rather than a passenger hall, and some destinations accept pets no other way.
Which of the three is right comes down to your pet’s size and breed, the airline, the season and the destination, and it is the first thing we settle on any move. The aircraft matters as well: Air Canada says its temperature-controlled and ventilated baggage compartments are available only on certain aircraft. Air Canada Cargo holds IATA’s CEIV Live Animals certification, which it renewed in 2022. Our Air Canada pet policy guide and WestJet pet policy guide set out each airline’s rules for all three options.
What Is Genuinely Hard, and Worth Paying For
Most of a pet move is ordinary logistics. Three parts are not, and they are where a coordinator earns the fee. Whichever service you choose, ask how it handles each of these before you book.
Sequencing the Documents
The sequence pet paperwork happens in matters more than any single form. On an export from Canada, your own veterinarian completes the destination country’s health certificate, and the CFIA endorses it at an in-person appointment. The CFIA is explicit that the endorsement cannot be done once the animal has left Canada.
That turns the appointment from a last step into a date the whole plan hangs on. It has to come after the veterinary examination, inside the destination’s window, which is commonly about ten days before arrival, and before the flight. We book it against the flight rather than the move date.
The vaccination history can break a plan too, and it is less forgiving than it looks. For destinations that rely on a rabies titre test, a booster given the day after the previous certificate ran out is a gap: the titre stops counting, a new blood sample cannot be drawn for another 30 days, and a move to Japan picks up 180 fresh days. Our guide to rabies titre testing for pet travel explains how to keep the series unbroken, and our CFIA export certificate guide walks through the endorsement.
Booking Freight
Cargo space for a live animal is booked, confirmed and checked in separately from any passenger, and on some routes Air Canada decides who may book it. Air Canada Cargo states that pets “being booked on International or U.S. routes must be booked through a registered International Pet and Animal Transportation Association (IPATA) agent, an IATA agent, or an Animal transport Association (ATA)” agent. Domestic Canadian shipments are the exception. On those routes an owner cannot place the booking themselves.
The crate decides which of those bookings is open. Air Canada takes a pet and kennel in its baggage compartment up to 45 kg together and 292 cm in length, width and height added up, and sends a larger kennel to Air Canada Cargo instead. Some first legs are limited before size comes into it: Air Canada Cargo’s published station details show that Saskatoon does not offer the AC Animals product, so a pet cannot be sent from there as Air Canada cargo, and that Regina screens pets only on weekdays from 09:00 to 15:00.
Then there is the season, which Air Canada publishes by aircraft and temperature. From 1 November to 31 March, and whenever it is 0 °C or below, it accepts no cats or dogs under 4.5 kg in the baggage compartment of any of its aircraft and advises against animals as checked baggage on its Airbus A319, A320 and A321, whose cargo compartment is not heated. From November to March its Boeing 737 MAX 8 takes no cats or dogs in the baggage compartment at all. For a move connecting through the United States, ask each airline on the itinerary about temperature before you book. Our guides to airline crate requirements and crate sizing explain the container, and our guide to fall and winter pet travel from Canada takes the cold months in detail. The airline crate size calculator on our US site works out IATA’s minimum inside dimensions for your dog or cat’s travel crate.
Knowing When the Answer Is No
Sometimes the useful thing a service can tell you is that a plan will not work, before you have paid for any of it. Some of those answers are fixed. The CDC requires a dog to be at least six months old to enter the United States. Air Canada will not take a snub-nosed dog in its baggage compartment. Some destinations ban or restrict particular dog breeds, and a bird or reptile can only move where CITES and the country’s own import rules both allow it.
Other answers are about a date rather than a destination: a titre wait that cannot be shortened, a CFIA appointment with no opening in the week you need it, or an embargo season on the only route out. Neither kind is an emergency when it surfaces early. We would rather say plainly that a date cannot be met than build a plan that depends on it, and when a move is simple enough to do without us, we say that as well. Our guides to breed restrictions for pet shipping and banned dog breeds by country explain which dogs are affected.
Who You Would Be Working With
Pet Travel Advisors has been arranging pet relocations since 2023. Our team holds IATA Live Animals Regulations certificates, and our documentation follows CFIA requirements.
One coordinator owns your move from the first call to delivery. That person plans the route, sizes the crate, sequences the veterinary visits and the CFIA appointment, books the flight or the vehicle, and stays with the move through travel day, with an update at each milestone: pickup, check-in, departure, landing and delivery. You deal with one person rather than an airline, a clinic and a courier separately.
What It Costs
Pet transport has no rate card, and a single figure on this page would mislead more readers than it helped. The cost is built from parts that move independently: the airline’s charge, which changes with the route, the season and the size of the crate; veterinary fees, which your clinic sets; government fees, which the destination and the CFIA set; the crate itself; and our coordination.
Our guide to how much pet shipping costs from Canada sets out each of those parts with the figures airlines and governments publish. For your own route, we send a written quote for the full move, including our coordination, and requesting one is free and carries no obligation.
How to Start
Send us four things: the species and breed, the approximate weight, where you are moving from and to, and roughly when. That is enough for us to tell you which route and which way of flying are realistic, what the timeline looks like, and whether the date you have in mind can be met.
1. Tell Us About Your Pet
Use the quote form or call us. We ask about breed and size first, because a snub-nosed dog or a very large one changes which flights are open.
2. Get a Route and a Written Quote
We come back with the routing we recommend, what the paperwork involves on your route, and a written quote for the whole move.
3. Paperwork and Preparation
Vaccinations, any titre test, crate practice at home and the health certificate, timed so that nothing expires before the flight.
4. Travel Day and Delivery
We collect your pet, handle check-in, follow the journey and manage the handover at the other end.
Get a Pet Transport Quote
Frequently asked questions
Can I book pet cargo with Air Canada myself?
For a domestic move, yes: Air Canada takes those pet cargo bookings directly, at least 24 hours before departure. On United States and international routes, Air Canada Cargo requires the booking to be placed through an agent registered with IPATA, IATA or the Animal Transportation Association, so an owner cannot book those legs directly.
What is the difference between checked baggage and cargo?
On Air Canada and WestJet, checked baggage travels in the hold on your own booking, so you have to be on the same flight. Cargo travels as its own shipment on an air waybill, with or without you on the aircraft, and is collected from a cargo facility. On Air Canada the limits differ too: a kennel over 45 kg, or over 292 cm in length, width and height added up, goes to Air Canada Cargo. Some destinations accept pets only as cargo.
Do I need a pet transport service for a move within Canada?
Not always. A cat or small dog flying in the cabin on your own flight is a booking you can usually make yourself. A service makes sense when your pet travels as cargo or without you, when the season or the crate narrows the routes, or when you would rather one person handled the whole move.
How far ahead should I start?
It depends on the route more than anything else. A move within Canada or to the United States can come together in a few weeks. A destination that requires a rabies titre test puts the move on a calendar measured in months, because the waiting period starts only after a satisfactory result and cannot be shortened. If you are not sure which kind of move yours is, ask before booking anything else.
How much does pet transport cost?
There is no single price, because the airline’s charge, the crate, veterinary and government fees and our coordination all vary with the route, the season and the size of your pet. Our guide to how much pet shipping costs from Canada sets out each part, and a written quote from us covers the whole move.
What credentials does your team hold?
Our team holds IATA Live Animals Regulations certificates, and our documentation follows CFIA requirements. We have been arranging pet relocations since 2023.