How Much Does It Cost to Ship a Pet from Canada to the United Kingdom?

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.

Compare that to the United States, where the equivalent endorsement runs from USD $101 to $275 depending on how many lab tests are involved. Exporting a pet from Canada is dramatically cheaper on the government side.

The Heathrow charge of £55 is per additional pet, not per additional day. Several competitor sites have copied that wrong, and it changes the maths considerably for a two-pet move.

CFIA endorsement appointments have to be booked and paid at least three days ahead, they are non-refundable once booked, and debit cards are not accepted. Appointment availability is the tightest constraint in most Canadian export timelines, more than any single fee.

Live animal freight from Canada is priced per booking, not from a rate card. British Airways is the other name Canadians ask about on this lane, and it carries no pets in the cabin at all, so a BA booking is a cargo booking with its own container rule: see our guide to the British Airways pet policy from Canada. Air Canada Cargo, WestJet, Lufthansa, KLM, Air France, Emirates and Qatar all quote each shipment individually, based on crate size, route, and dates.

No US carrier publishes a pet freight rate out of Canada. American Airlines Cargo, which does publish a transborder cargo tariff, states that it does not transport any animals outbound from Canada at all, so it is not an option on this lane unless the pet is driven to a US gateway and flown from there. The exact figure for this route is set once the crate size and dates are known, which is why we price it per booking instead of printing a number that will not match your itinerary.

What we can tell you is what drives it. Airlines charge on chargeable weight, which is whichever is greater: actual weight, or a volume figure from the crate dimensions. For pets the volume figure almost always wins. Air Canada publishes the divisor at 166 cubic inches per pound. A size 400 crate works out to roughly 66 kg of chargeable weight no matter what is inside it, which is why crate size moves the price more than the dog does.

Your vet sets their own fees. The examination, the certificate paperwork and any blood draw are priced by your clinic and vary between practices. Ask for a quote when you book the visit; we handle the timing so every piece lands inside its validity window. The lab fee covers the test itself, and the draw is always the clinic’s charge.

Ground transport at either end is quoted per route. Our coordination fee is included in the total we quote you and itemised on your invoice.

The tapeworm treatment window is measured in hours, not days, and has to be recorded by the vet who gives it. That means booking that appointment against your flight rather than around it.

Crate size drives the flight cost.

Great Britain, Ireland, Finland, Malta and Norway all require the tapeworm treatment. Advice written for Europe generally will not mention it.

Figures verified July 2026. CFIA fees are re-indexed for inflation every 31 March, so check the source if you are reading this later.

• CFIA Fees Notice, Part 11
• UK government pet entry requirements
• Heathrow Animal Reception Centre charges

Terms used here are defined in our pet relocation glossary.

Send us the route, the breed and roughly when you want to travel. Request a quote and we will reply with an itemised 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.