🇮🇳Taking a dog or cat to India: entry rules and flights

✓ Rules checked: August 18, 2026Official sources only

Preparing from scratch takes about 3 weeks, wherever you fly from.

India sets its own requirements for bringing in dogs and cats. From any departure country your pet needs microchip, import declaration, veterinary health certificate, rabies vaccination, additional vaccination and import permit. The rules are the same for dogs and cats.

There is no quarantine if the rule's conditions are met — otherwise the pet is held. Pets may not enter through just any airport: there are 6 designated points. Order matters more than the list: the microchip goes in before the rabies vaccination, or the vaccination does not count. 40 carriers in our directory fly direct to India, and their pet conditions differ.

Check your own route

Free, no signup: timings, documents and airlines for your pet

🐕 🐈 Same rules for dogs and cats

Airlines with direct flights

40 airlines in our directory fly direct to and from India. Their conditions differ — the cabin weight limit, whether they carry pets in the hold, the fee and breed restrictions — so it is worth choosing the carrier before buying the ticket.

Airline	Cabin	Hold	Cabin fee	Direct flights
Air India no snub-nosed breeds in the hold	✓ up to 10 kg	✓ up to 32 kg	—	from 40 cities in 29 countries
Akasa Air no snub-nosed breeds in the hold	✓ up to 10 kg	✓ up to 32 kg	—	from 5 cities in 4 countries
Turkish Airlines no snub-nosed breeds in the hold	✓ up to 8 kg	✓ up to 50 kg	70 EUR per flight	from 3 cities in 3 countries
Cathay Pacific no snub-nosed breeds in the hold	no pets	✓ up to 32 kg	—	from 2 cities in 2 countries
Emirates no snub-nosed breeds in the hold · no snub-nosed breeds in the cabin	no pets	✓	—	from 2 cities in 1 country
Kuwait Airways	no pets	✓ up to 32 kg	—	from 2 cities in 2 countries
Singapore Airlines no snub-nosed breeds in the hold · banned breeds: 5	no pets	✓ up to 32 kg	—	from 2 cities in 2 countries
SpiceJet no snub-nosed breeds in the hold · no snub-nosed breeds in the cabin · banned breeds: 22	no pets	✓ up to 35 kg	—	from 2 cities in 2 countries
Lufthansa no snub-nosed breeds in the hold	✓ up to 8 kg	✓	—	from 2 cities in 1 country
Vietnam Airlines no snub-nosed breeds in the hold · no snub-nosed breeds in the cabin · banned breeds: 35	✓ up to 6 kg	✓ up to 32 kg	—	from 2 cities in 1 country

Showing the 10 carriers serving the most cities out of 40 with direct flights. Schedules: AeroDataBox, AirLabs, Travelpayouts; pet conditions come from our airline directory.

Restrictions

The limits people find out about last: how many animals one person may bring, the minimum age and which breeds are turned away at the border.

Quarantine Yes, if the conditions are not met

Banned breeds No bans +

These are the country's rules. Airlines refuse some breeds on their own — their limits are in the carrier table above.

Pets per person Not stated

Minimum age no limit; vaccination from 90 days

Points of entry 6 airports +

Breed-list status: the DAHD circular of 12 Mar 2024 on ~23 'ferocious' breeds was SET ASIDE by the Delhi High Court on 16 Apr 2024; the Centre told the courts it is not enforcing it, and no fresh final notification exists. There is currently NO breed barrier to importing a compliant pet. However the matter is in active litigation (Delhi HC, late 2025) and the list could return — check the current status on aqcsindia.gov.in and dahd.nic.in before travel. The breeds listed are those affected by that circular (for reference).

What you need to enter India

The full list of documents and procedures for entering India. Every item carries its official source and last-checked date, and is marked as always required or required only from some departure countries.

Identification

Microchip+

ISO 11784/11785 microchip is mandatory for identification (confirmed by PetTravel; was absent in our previous rule).

«Supporting Documents includes: Vaccination and Microchip certificate, Official Health certificate along with Annexure1.1.1 signed by competent authority, Air ticket/Airway bill, passport copy etc.»

Source ↗Rules checked: August 18, 2026government

Vaccination

Rabies vaccination+

The dog (three months of age and older) and Cat must be vaccinated against Rabies more than one month, but within 12 months prior to actual embarkation and all details shall be officially certified or mentioned in the official Health certif

«The dog (three months of age and older) and Cat must be vaccinated against Rabies more than one month, but within 12 months prior to actual embarkation and all details shall be officially certified or mentioned in the official Health certificate.»