Canada to India
Pet Shipping from Canada to India
We provide international pet transport from Canada to India, planned around its import rules, the Canadian winter and your move date.
Book door-to-door pet relocation, or only the parts you need.
- Airline booking
- The travel crate
- The CFIA export paperwork
- Check-in at your Canadian airport
- Pickup in India with delivery to your new address
India at a glance
Full requirementsIndia’s quarantine service wants a dog or cat’s rabies vaccination at least a month old and no more than a year old when it embarks, certified on the official health certificate.
- Microchip
- Shown on the microchip and vaccination proof in the ATITHI filing
- Rabies vaccination
- Given more than 1 month and within 12 months before travel
- Health certificate
- India’s own format, Annexure 1.1.1, signed off by the CFIA
- No Objection Certificate
- Advance NOC through ATITHI 2.0, 7 or more working days ahead of the flight
- DGFT licence
- Needed on a short stay, the case neither baggage nor re-import covers
Pet Shipping from Canada to India
Before any date is set, AQCS, the country’s animal quarantine service, places the move in one of three cases: a transfer of residence, a short stay, or the return of a pet that previously left India. A short stay needs a DGFT licence, issued by India’s Directorate General of Foreign Trade. Its questions and answers on bringing pets in, read 28 September 2026, call a short stay import generally not permitted, granted rarely and only on justification, for an emotional support or therapy dog the owner needs on medical grounds, which must then leave the country with them. Each case ends in the same document, an Advance No Objection Certificate filed through the ATITHI 2.0 portal, without which the airline will not board the pet. If you would like a simple overview of international moves first, start with our guide to international pet shipping destinations. Bringing a pet the other way, into Canada? See our guide to bringing a pet to Canada.
Which route does a pet take into India?
AQCS keeps six stations, at Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad, and the ATITHI application names the one the pet arrives at. A pet travelling with its owner goes on that person’s ticket. One sent separately has to follow within a month of the owner landing, and dispatching it sooner, or later than that, takes advance permission from Customs. When the pet lands, AQCS checks it against its original papers, and a pet that passes gets its Final NOC on the spot.
What are the entry requirements for pets going to India?
The short answer
From Canada, India’s baggage rule covers an owner’s dogs and cats up to two in number, and APHIS reports that every pet needs a No Objection Certificate from the Animal Quarantine and Certification Station before landing, whether it flies accompanied or as cargo.
Import Eligibility for Pets
AQCS wants each declared a genuine pet, not traded, given as a gift or kept for breeding. A transfer of residence needs two years or more lived abroad and evidence of the move, a cancelled visa for example. A pet returning to India brings the export certificate AQCS issued on its way out. Every other arrival, a holiday visit among them, first needs a DGFT licence. Dogs imported commercially for breeding are refused outright.
AQCS allows no additional feed or bedding to travel with the pet, and the certificate has to match the ticket on the owner’s name and give an address in each country. Ready to start? Request a quote.
Health Preparation and Documentation
A cat, or a dog from three months of age, needs a rabies shot. It has to be more than a month old at embarkation and no older than a year, and the official certificate records it with every other vaccination. That certificate also declares the pet free of clinical signs of any infectious or contagious disease. For dogs, AQCS lists canine distemper, parvovirus infection, leptospirosis and rabies. For cats, the list is feline enteritis, panleukopenia, distemper, leptospirosis and rabies. The ATITHI filing needs four things: proof of vaccination and microchip, the signed certificate and Annexure 1.1.1, the flight ticket or air waybill, and a copy of the passport. Your vet completes the certificate, and the endorsement comes from a CFIA official veterinarian at a booked appointment, before the pet leaves Canada.
| Requirement | India, from Canada |
|---|---|
| Microchip | Shown on the microchip and vaccination proof in the ATITHI filing |
| Rabies vaccination | Given more than 1 month and within 12 months before travel |
| Health certificate | India’s own format, Annexure 1.1.1, signed off by the CFIA |
| No Objection Certificate | Advance NOC through ATITHI 2.0, 7 or more working days ahead of the flight |
| DGFT licence | Needed on a short stay, the case neither baggage nor re-import covers |
| Quarantine | A 15 day stay only after a failed arrival examination |
This checklist rests on India’s own documents and two Canadian ones. AQCS’s page on bringing pets in as baggage and its procedure documents for dogs and for cats, read 25 September 2026, give the three cases, the filing and the examination on arrival. The CFIA’s pet export certificate index, read 22 September 2026, has no entry for India, and its instructions for such a country look first to the destination’s own requirements. India’s procedure supplies its own certificate, Annexure 1.1.1. The CFIA’s endorsement appointments page, read the same day, covers the booking.
Planning Timeline for Pet Shipping to India
Which case applies decides where the calendar starts. A DGFT licence, if the move needs one, has to be in place before the ATITHI application. The CFIA endorses the certificate first, since the ATITHI application carries it and is due 7 or more working days ahead of departure. AQCS replies within 1 working day.
Planning the budget? See what shipping a pet from Canada to India costs, fee by fee.
Different destinations, different routes, different challenges.
Destination-Focused Planning
AQCS examines the original papers against the pet at the station. Every paper in the file is checked against the others before the CFIA appointment.
Smart Routing and Logistics
We help choose practical routes, travel windows, and handoff procedures so your pet’s trip is safer and more predictable.
Personalized Support
Pet Travel Advisors assigns a move coordinator who keeps you updated and checks details before travel so nothing important is missed.
Questions about moving a pet to India
Request a QuoteWhich Canadian airports will my pet fly from to India?
Which airline carries the pet, and whether it flies in the cabin or the hold, decides the departure airport, and the drive there is a service that can be booked on its own.
When is the best time to fly a pet from Canada to India?
From Canada the season cuts both ways. Air Canada’s passenger page on travelling with animals, read 16 September 2026, lists India among the destinations where pets may not ride in the baggage compartment from 1 March to 31 October, and it publishes separate cold-weather limits by date, temperature and aircraft, which our guide to fall and winter pet travel restrictions explains. Both restrictions cover pets flying as checked baggage, and Air Canada Cargo publishes its own conditions.
How much does it cost to move a pet from Canada to India?
Every move is priced individually, because the route from Canada, airline fees, your pet’s size and crate, the season, and India’s requirements all change the total. Tell us your city and timing and we’ll put together an estimate: request a quote.
How does Pet Travel Advisors handle a Canada-to-India move?
Each service stands alone or joins the others: flights, a travel crate, the paperwork for the ATITHI filing and the CFIA certificate, the airline check-in in Canada, and pickup from the AQCS station with delivery on to the new address. A move can run door-to-door or use just the parts it needs.
Ready to start?
Book door-to-door pet relocation, or only the parts you need.