Pet Transport from Canada to China

The rule comes from GACC Announcement 2019 No. 5, in force since 1 May 2019. Entry is limited to one dog or one cat for each person per entry. Every pet needs an electronic chip. Every pet needs valid quarantine and rabies vaccination certificates issued by the official animal quarantine authority of the exporting country. And pets from non-designated countries need, on top of that, a rabies antibody test report from a GACC-designated laboratory showing a titre above 0.5 IU/ml.

Two features of the Chinese titre are worth knowing because they are unusually forgiving. It is valid for up to one year from the sampling date, and there is no waiting period afterwards. Compare that with the EU’s three months from the draw, or Australia’s 180 days, and the Chinese version is generous: draw the blood, get the result, and you can fly as soon as the rest of the paperwork is ready.

The trap is which laboratory. China’s designated list is its own, and it does not match the EU’s or the UK’s approved-laboratory lists. A result from a lab that satisfies Brussels can be refused at a Chinese port, and by then the dog is already in the country. Several sources name the Centre of Expertise for Rabies at the CFIA Ottawa Laboratory on Fallowfield Road as the Canadian laboratory used for this test, and CFIA does confirm Fallowfield is its rabies centre of expertise and a World Organisation for Animal Health reference laboratory. Even so, confirm the laboratory appears on China’s current designated list before the sample is drawn, because the list is maintained by GACC and revised by separate announcement.

Most pets leaving Canada need an export certificate issued by a licensed veterinarian and endorsed by an official CFIA veterinarian. The rule that catches people is the timing: CFIA states plainly that endorsement cannot be done after the animal has left Canada. There is no retrospective fix and no consulate workaround.

The process itself has a few hard edges. Appointments only, and walk-ins are refused outright. Online payment must be completed at least three days before the appointment. Credit or prepaid credit card only, debit cards are not accepted. The service fee is calculated by a CFIA officer once the appointment is booked, and it is non-refundable from that moment, so cancelling a slot costs money even if you never attend. Have your own vet review and sign the certificate before you turn up.

Figures for the endorsement fee and for processing time circulate widely on relocation sites. CFIA does not publish either on its appointments page, so treat any dollar amount or turnaround you read as a third-party estimate rather than a published rate, and budget a buffer.

Air Canada carries pets to China in the cabin and the baggage compartment, and then removes the baggage compartment for a third of the year. Pets in the hold to China are restricted from 1 June to 30 September. No pets at all are accepted between 18 December and 4 January, because of peak passenger and cargo loads. Brachycephalic breeds are excluded from the hold entirely, and only hard-sided kennels are accepted. Its published fees are CA$100 to 120 in the cabin on international routes and CA$270 to 324 as checked baggage.

For most families this is the binding constraint, because the summer embargo overlaps precisely with the school-year gap when people actually move. A dog too large for the cabin has to travel outside it.

The Chinese carriers all put pets in the hold and nowhere else. Air China takes one pet per passenger to 32kg including container, food and water, wants prior approval at booking, and requires you to check the animal in personally no later than 120 minutes before departure. China Eastern allows one small animal per passenger on international flights and pushes anything whose dimensions sum above 203cm to freight. China Southern takes one pet as checked baggage to 32kg with the application made at least 72 hours ahead.

Then there is the household arithmetic. Because China limits entry to one dog or one cat per person per entry, a couple moving with two dogs is fine as long as both people travel on the same entry. One person moving with two dogs is not, and needs two trips or a second traveller.