🇮🇱Taking a dog or cat to Israel: entry rules and flights

✓ Rules checked: August 14, 2026Official sources only

Preparing from scratch takes about 4 weeks, wherever you fly from.

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

Pets may not enter through just any airport: there is only one designated point. Order matters more than the list: the microchip goes in before the rabies vaccination, or the vaccination does not count. 12 carriers in our directory fly direct to Israel, 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

12 airlines in our directory fly direct to and from Israel. 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
El Al Israel Airlines no snub-nosed breeds in the hold	✓ up to 9 kg	✓ up to 100 kg	100 USD per flight	from 58 cities in 26 countries
Arkia no snub-nosed breeds in the hold · no snub-nosed breeds in the cabin	✓ up to 8 kg	✓ up to 32 kg	—	from 44 cities in 26 countries
Israir Airlines	✓ up to 8 kg	no pets	40 ILS per flight	from 37 cities in 21 countries
Neos S.p.A. no snub-nosed breeds in the hold · banned breeds: 7	✓ up to 10 kg	✓	100 EUR per flight	from 7 cities in 5 countries
Tus Airways no snub-nosed breeds in the hold · no snub-nosed breeds in the cabin	✓ up to 8 kg	no pets	105 EUR per flight	from 6 cities in 3 countries
Aegean Airlines	✓ up to 8 kg	✓ up to 25 kg	—	from 5 cities in 2 countries
Lufthansa no snub-nosed breeds in the hold	✓ up to 8 kg	✓	—	from 3 cities in 2 countries
Cyprus Airways no snub-nosed breeds in the hold	✓ up to 10 kg	✓	70 EUR per flight	from 3 cities in 2 countries
Fly Lili no snub-nosed breeds in the hold	✓ up to 8 kg	no pets	—	from 3 cities in 2 countries
Wizz Air Malta	no pets	no pets	—	from 7 cities in 4 countries

Showing the 10 carriers serving the most cities out of 12 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 Not stated in the rules

Banned breeds 10 breeds +

American Staffordshire Terrier
Bull Terrier
Miniature Bull Terrier
Dogo Argentino
Tosa Inu
Staffordshire Bull Terrier
American Pit Bull Terrier
Pit Bull Terrier
Fila Brasileiro
Rottweiler

Dangerous breeds per Regulations for the Control of Dogs 5765-2004 (8): Amstaff, Bull Terrier, Dogo Argentino, Japanese Tosa, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Pit Bull, Fila Brasileiro, Rottweiler + any of their hybrids/lines. Import is PROHIBITED except in exceptional cases under an import permit from the Director of Vet Services: owner ≥18 yrs, dog sterilized/neutered and owned for ≥18 months before import. Violation — up to 6 months imprisonment.

Pets per person Not stated

Minimum age 4 months+ +

Minimum age of the pet on arrival is 4 months. Exception (3 months) only for arrivals from: Australia, New Zealand, Japan, UK, Ireland, Singapore, Cyprus, Sweden. For departures from Russia the 4-month threshold applies. Follows logically from 'vaccine from 3 months + 30-day wait'.

Points of entry 1 airports +

The forms are emailed to the Israeli Veterinary Service at the port of arrival no later than 2 WORKING DAYS before departure: Ben Gurion — vs-airport@moag.gov.il, Ashdod port — ashdodvet@moag.gov.il, Haifa — vs-haifaport@moag.gov.il, Eilat — vet_eilat@moag.gov.il. The animal is boarded ONLY after a confirming reply. Without it you will not be boarded even with a complete document set.

A relaxation: a pet older than 3 months from a country recognised as rabies-free may arrive WITHOUT a rabies vaccination — but must be vaccinated within 5 days after arrival. Israel does not publish the list of such countries on this page, so check with the veterinary service. This is not a restriction.

It is prohibited to import an animal subjected to damage of living tissue for decorative purposes: docked ears or tail, tattoo. The only exception is a mark indicating neutering. We cannot check this from your query — there is no docking field in the form, so please verify yourself.

What you need to enter Israel

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