How Much Does It Cost to Ship a Pet from the USA to the United Kingdom?
A dog or cat moving from the United States to the UK typically runs somewhere between $1,600 and $4,500, with the crate size doing more to set that figure than the animal itself.
The UK is one of the easier destinations from the US. There is no import permit, no government entry fee, and no quarantine for a compliant pet. The costs that do exist are the flight, the crate, your vet, and the Heathrow arrival handling. Here is each one.
Airline freight, and why the crate decides it
Airlines price live animals on chargeable weight, which is whichever is greater: the actual weight, or a volume figure worked out from the crate. For pets the crate almost always wins, which is why a slim 60 lb dog in a large crate costs more to fly than a stocky 70 lb dog in the same one.
The divisor is published by Air Canada Cargo at 166 cubic inches per pound. The rates below come from the American Airlines Cargo public tariff, the tariff these estimates are calculated against. Other carriers price each booking individually. Current version checked July 2026.
| Crate size | Approx. dimensions | Chargeable weight | Freight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small (cat or toy dog) (size 100) | 21 x 16 x 15 in | 14 kg | $690 |
| Medium (size 200) | 28 x 20.5 x 21.5 in | 34 kg | $1,066 |
| Large (size 400) | 36 x 25 x 27 in | 66 kg | $1,960 |
| Giant (size 700) | 48 x 32 x 35 in | 147 kg | $2,977 |
One rule decides this route before any of the figures do. The United Kingdom bans five types of dog outright: the Pit Bull Terrier, the Japanese Tosa, the Dogo Argentino, the Fila Brasileiro and the XL Bully. Whether a dog counts as a banned type depends on what it looks like rather than on its breed name or its papers, so a crossbreed with the wrong build is caught by it too, and an XL Bully cannot be owned in the UK without a valid Certificate of Exemption.
These freight figures are our own calculation from the published rate and the published divisor. They assume a direct booking on the published tariff. A routing with a connection, or a carrier that quotes rather than publishes, will differ.
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 freight mechanics on this page come from American Airlines Cargo, whose conditions are set out in full in our guide to the American Airlines pet policy. British Airways is the carrier most people ask about on this route, and it carries no pets in the cabin at all, so a BA move is a cargo booking with its own crate rule and its own charges on arrival: our guide to the British Airways pet policy covers both.
The rest of the bill
| Cost | Amount | Who charges it |
|---|---|---|
| USDA export endorsement | $101 per certificate | USDA APHIS |
| IATA crate | $65 to $378 depending on size | Retailer |
| Microchip, if not already ISO compliant | Varies | Your vet |
| Rabies vaccination | Varies | Your vet |
| Tapeworm treatment (required for the UK) | Varies | Your vet |
| Heathrow Animal Reception Centre, collection | £99 | City of London |
| Heathrow ARC, boarding with paperwork pre-checked | £203, plus £52 per additional pet | City of London |
| Airline live animal processing | $150 per air waybill | Airline |
| Import permit | None. The UK does not require one. | Not applicable |
| Quarantine | None for a compliant pet. | Not applicable |
Two things worth knowing about the USDA fee, because most guides get them wrong. It is charged per certificate, not per pet, so two pets on one certificate cost far less than two separate certificates. And vaccinations do not count as tests, so a UK-bound dog with a rabies vaccination and no titer test sits in the $101 band rather than a higher one. The US does not require a titer test for the UK.
The Heathrow charge of £52 is per additional pet, not per additional day. Several competitor sites have copied that wrong.
What is not included here
Two costs are real and we deliberately do not put a number on them, because no honest source exists for either.
Your vet sets their own fees. The examination, the health certificate paperwork, and the blood draw for a titer test where one is needed are all priced by your clinic, and they vary widely between practices and cities. Ask your own vet for a quote. Labs price only the test itself; the draw and the paperwork are always the clinic’s charge.
Ground transport at either end is quoted per route, since it depends on distance and access. If we are handling your move, that is part of the plan we send you.
Our coordination fee is included in the totals we quote you directly and appears itemized on your invoice.
What moves the price
Crate size is the single biggest lever, because it drives chargeable weight. Getting the size right matters, but so does not over-sizing: a crate one band larger than your pet needs adds real money to the freight.
Breed can remove options entirely. Snub-nosed dogs and cats face airline restrictions, and some carriers refuse them in the hold altogether. Our guide to breed restrictions covers which breeds and which airlines.
Season matters. Summer heat embargoes apply to the whole route, not just your departure airport, and they can force a longer or later routing.
Timing of the paperwork is the quiet one. The health certificate has a short validity window, so a missed vet or endorsement appointment can mean redoing it.
Figures and sources
Figures verified July 2026. Government fees change, sometimes without much notice, so each one below links to the authority that publishes it. If you are reading this well after July 2026, check the source before relying on the number.
- USDA APHIS endorsement fees (page updated June 2026; rates confirmed unchanged for FY2026)
- UK government pet entry requirements
- Heathrow Animal Reception Centre charges
- American Airlines Cargo live animal tariff
- Volumetric weight divisors
Terminology in this table is explained in our pet relocation glossary.
Want this priced for your actual 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 clear next steps.
For entry rules and the full paperwork timeline, see our guide to pet shipping requirements for the United Kingdom.
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