Pet Transport from Malaysia to Singapore
You can drive it in an afternoon. Your dog cannot. Singapore places Malaysia in Schedule III, the category for every country not specifically named in the first two, and Schedule …
The import process, in full
Responsible: Your veterinarian
Responsible: Your veterinarian + approved laboratory
Responsible: You + Animal and Veterinary Service
Responsible: You + AVS
Responsible: You
Responsible: Your veterinarian + AVS officers
Responsible: AVS
Which Singapore rules depend on a pet coming from Malaysia?
Singapore sorts countries into 3 groups, and Malaysia falls in “Schedule III”.
Rabies vaccination and serology as for Schedule II, plus at least 30 days' quarantine at the Animal Quarantine Centre (AQC), booked in advance. Official source
These rules apply to that group, on top of the rules every pet follows:
- Quarantine: Schedule III pets must spend at least 30 days at the Animal Quarantine Centre (AQC), booked in advance through the Quarantine Management System (QMS). Applies to dogs and cats from Schedule III origins.
Veterinary conditions for the importation of dogs/cats for countries/regions under Schedule III (DOGCAT 83-3, updated 1 April 2026), checked 1 October 2026 - Rabies titre test: Same serology rule applies to Schedule III. Applies to dogs and cats from Schedule III origins.
Veterinary conditions for the importation of dogs/cats for countries/regions under Schedule III (DOGCAT 83-3, updated 1 April 2026), checked 1 October 2026 - Other conditions: The Schedule III conditions (updated 1 April 2026) require owners to engage an AVS-recognised pet agent before the pet arrives. Applies to dogs and cats from Schedule III origins.
Veterinary conditions for the importation of dogs/cats for countries/regions under Schedule III (DOGCAT 83-3, updated 1 April 2026), checked 1 October 2026
The rules that apply to every pet entering Singapore, whatever the origin, are listed with their official sources in our Singapore guide.
What does Malaysia require before your pet leaves?
- Export permit: Pets leaving Malaysia need an export permit from MAQIS and a Veterinary Health Certificate from the DVS state branch, applied for online through the Dagangnet e-Permit system. Applies to dogs and cats leaving Malaysia.
Import Dan Eksport, checked 2 October 2026 - Export health certificate: The veterinary health certificate is issued by the DVS state branch after examination. Applies to dogs and cats leaving Malaysia.
Import Dan Eksport, checked 2 October 2026 - Other conditions: Fees (Selangor state DVS only): the Selangor fee schedule for animal transfer documents (veterinary health certificate, import, export and movement certificates) lists dogs and cats at RM5 per head under import and RM3 per head under export. The page does not say whether the export column covers international export or the MAQIS export permit. Other states appear on the DVS state charge sheet (recorded separately). Applies to dogs and cats documented by DVS Selangor.
Kadar Bayaran Dokumen Pemindahan Ternakan & Sembelihan Luar, checked 2 October 2026 - Other conditions: MAQIS export permit fee: RM40 per cat or dog (Malaysian Quarantine and Inspection Services (Fees and Charges) Regulations 2013, P.U.(A) 115/2013, in force 1 April 2013, regulation 2 and First Schedule item 1, Export column; the Import column is also RM40). Restricted-breed dogs are RM100 per animal for import or export (First Schedule item 2). The MAQIS Acts page lists no amendment to these regulations. Applies to dogs and cats leaving Malaysia under a MAQIS export permit.
Malaysian Quarantine and Inspection Services (Fees and Charges) Regulations 2013, P.U.(A) 115, checked 2 October 2026 - Other conditions: MAQIS export inspection charge (P.U.(A) 115/2013, regulation 3 and Second Schedule items 1 and 2): RM20 per dog and RM10 per cat on export (import: RM40 per dog, RM25 per cat). Applies to dogs and cats leaving Malaysia.
Malaysian Quarantine and Inspection Services (Fees and Charges) Regulations 2013, P.U.(A) 115, checked 2 October 2026 - Other conditions: Processing time (MAQIS client charter; the page shows no date): MAQIS commits to issue import and export permits, licences and certificates for animals within 24 hours, and to inspect and clear export consignments within 1 hour of the declaration once they are ready for inspection. This is a service commitment, not a statutory deadline. Applies to MAQIS export permits for dogs and cats leaving Malaysia.
Piagam Pelanggan (client charter), checked 2 October 2026 - Other conditions: DVS state charges for dogs and cats ("Anjing & Kucing" row of the undated DVS state permit charge sheet on the government myTRADELINK portal): the veterinary health certificate (SKV) is RM3 in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Kedah and Labuan, RM10 in Melaka and Perlis, and charged per consignment in Kelantan, Pulau Pinang and Terengganu (RM10 to RM30). The export (E) charge is RM3 in most states and up to RM15 elsewhere. The sheet does not say whether E means international export or interstate movement (the Kelantan figure is marked for Sabah and Sarawak), and the per-consignment columns were hard to align, so treat these figures as approximate. Applies to veterinary health certificates for dogs and cats issued by state DVS offices.
Department of Veterinary Services (State) Permit Charges, checked 2 October 2026
We handle the regulations for every animal, every country, every airline, so nothing on your Malaysia to Singapore move gets missed.
Carriers on this route
Not all airlines accept live animals on this route. Confirm the operating carrier's current policy for every flight segment.
What this route typically costs
Critical points
Malaysia is a Schedule III origin for Singapore. Crossing twenty miles of water costs a rabies titre taken at least 90 days before export and at least 30 days at the Animal Quarantine Centre. The land border changes nothing.
The reverse trip is far easier. Malaysia gives Singapore a special status of its own, with no routine quarantine. Do not assume the return journey will resemble the outbound one.
Home quarantine is not available to Schedule III animals at any price. It exists only for Schedule II.
The 90-day minimum between the blood draw and export is the binding constraint on the whole move. A family relocating at four weeks' notice cannot bring the pet with them.
Why a land border makes no difference
Singapore’s schedules are about rabies status, not distance. Schedule I holds four countries: Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. Schedule II holds most of western Europe, the USA, Canada, Japan and Hong Kong. Schedule III is defined by exclusion, meaning everywhere else, and Malaysia is not named in either of the first two.
So the conditions that apply to a dog driven over the Second Link are the same ones that apply to a dog flown in from a country with no rabies control at all. Dogs and cats entering Singapore by land are inspected at Tuas Checkpoint, which is the Second Link crossing rather than the Woodlands Causeway, and that inspection is the only concession the land route earns you.
It is worth being blunt about this because the corridor generates more wishful thinking than almost any other. Malaysian and Singaporean families move between the two countries constantly, plenty of them with pets, and the assumption that a short familiar journey must have a short familiar process is exactly wrong.
The 90-day rule that sets your calendar
Work backwards from the export date. The rabies antibody blood sample has to be drawn at least 90 days before export, and within 12 months of it, and it can only be taken at least 28 days after a valid rabies vaccination.
For a pet whose rabies vaccination is already current and valid, that means a minimum of about three months from blood draw to crossing. For a pet that needs vaccinating first, add the 28-day gap on the front. Then add the quarantine on the far side, and a realistic total is four to five months.
This is the number that decides whether the pet travels with the family or after them. Most people relocating within the region get four to eight weeks’ notice, and there is no way to compress a 90-day pre-export window into that. Sending the pet on later, once the paperwork has matured, is the normal answer, and it is worth planning for deliberately rather than discovering it late.
Thirty days at the Animal Quarantine Centre
Schedule III animals serve at least 30 days at the Animal Quarantine Centre, and they are vaccinated against rabies on arrival regardless of what they had before.
Space has to be reserved before the animal arrives, through the Quarantine Management System at qms.avs.gov.sg, and you supply both the rabies and the general vaccination records when you book. Booking is not a formality that can wait until the border.
The home quarantine route, where a pet serves ten days at the owner’s address wearing a smart collar tag, is a Schedule II privilege. None of it is available from Malaysia.
Alongside the quarantine sit the ordinary Singaporean requirements: an import licence through the GoBusiness portal at S$50 normal or S$100 express, valid 90 days from issue, and an arrival inspection booked at least five days ahead or charged at S$133 per hour if it is not.
Check the flat, not just the border
One more Singaporean rule catches families moving from Malaysia, and it has nothing to do with importing.
Singapore limits the animals you may keep by home type. Private condominiums and landed housing allow up to three cats or dogs combined.
Given how much of Singapore’s housing is HDB, and how many Malaysian families arrive with more than one dog, this is worth settling before the four-month clock starts rather than after. The quarantine centre will release your pet to an address; nobody along the way checks whether that address is allowed to have it.
Common questions
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Requirements on this page were checked against the authorities below. Rules change, so confirm current conditions with the relevant authority before you travel.
- AVS · Singapore Animal and Veterinary Service, importing dogs and cats
- DVS Malaysia · Department of Veterinary Services, Malaysia