Pet Transport from Canada to India

Toronto to Delhi is flown nonstop by two carriers, Air Canada and Air India, thirteen flights a week, about sixteen hours in the air.

Air India’s own guidelines rule it out. It states that because of destination restrictions and operational reasons it is currently unable to transport pets into or out of the USA, Canada and Australia, in the cabin and as checked baggage. A Toronto departure is a movement out of Canada, so it is caught. Air India Cargo does not rescue it either: it is not accepting pets as personal cargo on ultra long-haul flights over twelve hours to the US and Canada, and this sector runs to about sixteen.

That leaves Air Canada, and three of its rules stack on top of each other.

First, India appears in Air Canada’s country restriction table with the period 1 March to 31 October. That is eight months in which no pet travels in the baggage compartment to India. Second, between 18 December and 4 January no pets are accepted as checked baggage or cargo anywhere, because of peak passenger and cargo loads. Third, from 1 November to 31 March, and at any other time the temperature is at or below 0C, restrictions apply to small animals under 4.5kg and to certain aircraft types, which is the Toronto or Vancouver winter problem.

Overlay them. The hold window is roughly 1 November to 17 December and 5 January to the end of February, and it is further eroded by any sub-zero morning at the departure airport. A January departure from Toronto can be cancelled on the day by cold alone.

Add two more Air Canada conditions before you plan around it: brachycephalic dogs cannot travel in the baggage compartment at any time of year, and codeshare flights operated by partner airlines do not permit pets, which rules out booking an Air Canada-coded connection and assuming the animal travels.

None of the seasonal rules above touch cabin pets. Air Canada’s country table sits under the heading “Summer heat restrictions”, introduced by an explanation that not all its aircraft have temperature-controlled and ventilated baggage compartments. It governs the hold.

In the cabin, cats and small dogs travel to India year round in a soft carrier of roughly 40 x 43 x 20cm on most aircraft, and the pet must be able to stand, turn around and lie down. They are not permitted in Premium Economy.

So the practical answer on this route depends almost entirely on the size of the animal. A cat, or a dog small enough for that carrier, can fly Toronto to Delhi in August with no seasonal question at all, on four to six weeks’ notice. A 25kg dog is looking at a winter departure, eight to twelve weeks of planning, and a real chance of a weather cancellation.

If the dog is too big for the cabin and the winter window does not work, the alternative is a Gulf hub. Qatar Airways carries pets as checked baggage on most routes up to 75kg including container and food, with total carrier dimensions to 300cm, above which the movement becomes cargo, and it needs at least 48 hours’ notice. It publishes no India embargo. What it does not publish is whether it accepts pets as checked baggage on flights departing Canada, so that has to be confirmed booking by booking. Note the asymmetry while you are looking: Air Canada’s own table lists Qatar and the UAE as restricted all year, but that is Air Canada declining to carry pets in its own hold to those countries, not the Gulf carriers refusing.

Canada negotiates bilateral pet export certificates with roughly forty countries and territories. India is not one of them.

That means the instrument is the generic Canadian International Health Certificate, which exists precisely for countries without a negotiated form. It is downloaded, completed by a vet licensed to practise in Canada, and then presented to an official government veterinarian for endorsement. CFIA asks for it on legal paper, 8.5 by 14 inches, though letter size is accepted, which is a small detail that occasionally sends people back to a print shop.

Because the form is generic, its content is your responsibility. It must be completed so that it certifies the dog free from clinical signs of rabies, canine distemper, parvovirus infection and leptospirosis, or the cat free from rabies, distemper, feline enteritis, feline panleukopenia and leptospirosis, in India’s own wording. A CFIA-endorsed certificate that omits those named diseases is the commonest failure at the Indian port, and endorsement does not fix a drafting error. Hand your vet the disease list, not a request for “a health certificate for India”.

Getting it endorsed has its own rules. Appointments only, walk-ins refused outright. Online payment completed at least three days before the appointment, by credit card or prepaid credit card, with debit cards not accepted. The officer calculates the service fee once the appointment is booked. The fees notice schedule rate for export certification of animals not otherwise specified is CA$24.64 per certificate as of 31 March 2026, which is the closest published line item, though the appointments page makes clear the officer sets the final amount.

Processing times and seasonal slowdowns are widely quoted online but do not appear on CFIA’s page, so treat any turnaround figure you read, including on relocation sites, as operational experience rather than a published standard.

India’s rules are origin-neutral. AQCS names no countries and grants no rabies-free-origin fast track, so nothing about being Canadian helps or hurts.

Under the baggage rule you may bring up to two dogs or cats, on proof of two years of stay abroad and proof of transferring residence to India. The rabies vaccination must fall more than one month and within twelve months before embarkation. The owner’s name on the certificate must match the travel documents.

The Advance No Objection Certificate is applied for at least seven working days before embarkation and issued within one working day, with the appointment confirmed with the destination station officer about a week out. The airline will not board the pet without it. On the fee, AQCS contradicts itself: its standard operating procedure states no charge for pet NOCs while its published FAQ quotes Rs 1,000 per application, so ask when you apply.

Pets may enter at six stations only: Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. From Toronto that is not restrictive, since Delhi is the nonstop, but it does mean a Pune or Ahmedabad move needs a domestic leg planned in advance.

No titre is required and there is no scheduled quarantine. The pet is examined at the port and the final NOC is issued there. AQCS says pets imported as baggage may avoid quarantine but can also be quarantined in case of doubt, and its own pages give different durations for that observation, fifteen days in one and thirty in another. Rather than plan against an uncertain number, put the effort into the certificate wording, which is what the examination actually turns on.

One footnote for the family’s future: India is on Canada’s own list of countries at high risk for dog rabies. It changes nothing on the way out, but it will shape a return move with the same dog years later, including Canada’s prohibition on commercial dogs from high-risk countries.