How Much Does It Cost to Ship a Pet from the USA to Canada?
Canada is the cheapest international move available from the United States, and the reason is paperwork. A pet dog older than 8 months, and a cat of any age, needs no health certificate and no USDA endorsement to enter Canada. A current rabies vaccination certificate is the entire documentary requirement. On every other route on this site the USDA endorsement alone is $101 per certificate. Here it is nothing. What remains is the crate and the journey.
Airline freight, and why the crate decides it
Airlines price live animals on chargeable weight: whichever is greater, the actual weight of pet and crate together, or a volume figure calculated from the crate’s dimensions. For most dogs the crate wins, which is why a light dog in an oversized crate can cost more to fly than a heavier dog in a correctly sized one. Measure before you buy.
We do not publish a freight table for this route. Pricing between the United States and Canada varies more by departure city and season than on any long-haul lane, and an averaged table would mislead more often than it would help. Send us the two cities and the crate size and we will quote the real rate. For reference, the same corridor in the opposite direction, Canada to the United States, currently starts at CAD $455.
Freight is the one line we quote per booking rather than publish, because it is the line that moves most.
Whichever carrier takes the booking sets its own hold conditions, crate rules and pet charges, and those vary more between airlines than the fares do. Our list of the airlines that carry pets internationally covers which carriers accept live animals out of the US, and our comparison of US airline pet policies puts the big carriers side by side.
The rest of the bill
| Cost | Amount | Who charges it |
|---|---|---|
| USDA export endorsement | Not required | USDA APHIS |
| Health certificate | Not required for dogs over 8 months, or for cats | USDA APHIS |
| Rabies vaccination and certificate | Set by your clinic | Your veterinarian |
| IATA crate | $65 to $378 depending on size | Retail |
| Airline freight | Quoted per booking | Airline |
| Import permit | None | CFIA |
| Quarantine | None | CFIA |
| Rabies titer test | Not required | CFIA |
One rule turns on the dog’s age. A dog under 8 months traveling with its owner needs only current rabies proof. A dog under 8 months traveling unaccompanied needs a veterinary examination and a health certificate within 72 hours of arrival in Canada. Dogs brought in under 8 months for breeding, show, resale or adoption are treated as commercial imports, and those need a CFIA import permit, export certification that includes an inspection of the kennel of origin, and a post-import quarantine facility if they arrive by air. We do not handle commercial puppy imports.
What is not included here
Your vet sets their own fees. The examination, the rabies vaccination and the certificate paperwork are priced by your clinic and vary by state. Boarding, and anything required by the province you are moving to rather than by Canada, also sits outside these figures.
What moves the price
Canada is the only destination on this site you can drive to, and for anywhere within reasonable range of the border, driving is usually both cheaper and easier on the animal than cargo. It avoids the crate size penalty, the summer and winter temperature embargoes, and airport handling entirely. Distance from the border is the first question worth asking. After that it is crate size, whether the pet travels in cabin or as cargo, the season, and whether the routing is direct.
Our Canada destination guide sets out the full document sequence behind these figures.
Figures and sources
Checked September 2026. The requirements above come from the CFIA import reference document and the USDA APHIS page for pet travel from the United States to Canada. Government rules change, so both are linked. If you are reading this long after the date above, check the source before you book.
Want this priced for your pet and dates?
Send us the route, the breed and roughly when you want to travel. Request a quote and we will reply with an itemized plan, a timeline and a real number for your pet rather than a range.
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