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Flying Abroad With a Dog or Cat From Israel: Rules, Real Costs and the Hard Destinations

Shukshuk team · Updated September 2026

Two different decisions hide behind "flying with a dog": taking the animal, or leaving it. This guide covers both. The Israeli side is the straightforward part and follows a set procedure: a valid rabies vaccination, an export health certificate signed by a vet and approved by a government vet, and for some destinations a rabies antibody blood test. The complicated part is the destination country, whose requirements decide how far ahead you must start and occasionally whether it is worth doing at all. One detail catches people out: the health certificate is valid for just ten days from signing.

Realistic cost of flying a dog out of Israel, one way, as of September 2026

Government export certificate fee

Range: ₪46
Note: Official tariff, per certificate

Health certificate at a private vet

Range: ₪350 to ₪850
Note: Varies by clinic

Rabies antibody (titer) test

Range: ₪600 to ₪1,400
Note: Only for destinations that require it, including the EU

Pet ticket up to 9 kg, El Al

Range: $100 to Europe, $150 to North America
Note: El Al tariff, carrier included

Pet ticket 9 to 50 kg, El Al

Range: $200 to Europe, $250 to North America
Note: In the hold

Compliant carrier

Range: ₪100 to ₪2,000
Note: Soft for cabin, rigid for the hold

Item	Range	Note
Government export certificate fee	₪46	Official tariff, per certificate
Health certificate at a private vet	₪350 to ₪850	Varies by clinic
Rabies antibody (titer) test	₪600 to ₪1,400	Only for destinations that require it, including the EU
Pet ticket up to 9 kg, El Al	$100 to Europe, $150 to North America	El Al tariff, carrier included
Pet ticket 9 to 50 kg, El Al	$200 to Europe, $250 to North America	In the hold
Compliant carrier	₪100 to ₪2,000	Soft for cabin, rigid for the hold

Realistic one-way total: around ₪2,000 for a small dog in the cabin to an easy destination, up to ₪12,000 and beyond for a large dog in the hold to a destination that requires testing. Using a pet relocation company adds more.

The Israeli procedure, step by step

Per the Ministry of Agriculture, the order is: 1. A valid rabies vaccination. This is not special flight preparation, it is already mandatory for every dog in Israel, but check it is in date and documented. 2. Find out what the destination requires, before anything else. The Ministry publishes health certificates for many countries, and requirements differ sharply between them. 3. If the destination requires a rabies antibody test, your private vet draws the blood and the test is run at the rabies laboratory of the Ministry's Veterinary Institute in Rishon LeZion (the Kimron institute). Results come back by email. Here is a point almost no guide mentions, and it changes timelines: not every country recognises the Israeli laboratory. The EU lists Kimron as a designated lab for antibody testing, and the US CDC approves it too. Japan, Singapore and Hawaii do not, and for those the sample has to go to an approved laboratory abroad. That adds time and money, and it has to be counted backwards from the flight date. 4. Back to your vet to sign the health certificate. 5. Government vet approval: go to the district veterinary services office nearest you. Pay the fee in advance on the government payments site before you arrive. 6. Keep the signed form to hand. You present it at check-in and possibly to the destination authorities. The application itself now goes through an online system called Yaale, and the VET submits it, not the owner. Not every vet is connected to the system, so ask your clinic in advance; the Ministry publishes a list of connected vets.

The rule that catches most people: ten days

The export health certificate is valid for only ten days from signing, for leaving Israel. In practice: do the vaccinations, tests and preparation months ahead, but the signature and the government approval belong in the week and a half before the flight. Anyone who sorts the certificate a month early "so it is not last minute" arrives at the airport with an expired document. Two further points worth knowing, because they save money on later trips: the rabies vaccination is valid for a year, and the rabies antibody test is valid for the animal's entire life as long as the vaccination chain is unbroken. The expensive test is a one-off, not a per-flight cost. Staying abroad more than 30 days: go to the government veterinary service in the country you are in and they will issue a new certificate for the return. Your Israeli tests and vaccinations remain valid.

The EU: what changed in 2026

The EU requires a rabies antibody blood test, and that is the main difference between it and "easy" destinations. On top of that, a Ministry notice published in May 2026 brought two requirements into immediate effect: • A non-commercial import declaration, signed by the owner or their authorized representative, confirming the animal is not intended for sale or transfer. Mandatory for every animal entering the EU. • A power of attorney, where the animal is accompanied on the flight by someone other than the registered owner. And a rule that matters especially for relocation: if the animal travels with an accompanying person who is not the owner, the owner must arrive in the destination country within five days before or five days after the animal. Outside that window the shipment is classified as a commercial export, with entirely different veterinary requirements and a different certificate. Sending the dog ahead with a friend two weeks before you move lands exactly here. On the form itself, the consignor and consignee fields carry the owner's details only, whoever physically flies with the animal.

Airlines: who allows what, and for how much

At El Al, weight decides which route the animal takes, and weight is always measured with the carrier: • Up to 9 kg including the carrier: usually the cabin. Only dogs, cats and exotic birds are allowed. • Over 9 kg and up to 100 kg including the carrier: the hold, as checked baggage. • Over 100 kg including the carrier: not carried as baggage at all, only through the cargo department. El Al's fee table, one way, by weight and zone: • Up to 9 kg: ₪50 to Eilat, $100 to Europe and the Middle East, $150 to the Far East and North America. • 9 to 50 kg: ₪150 to Eilat, $200 to Europe, $250 to the Far East and North America. • 50 to 100 kg: ₪200 to Eilat, $400 to Europe, $450 to the Far East and North America. The fee is calculated on the combined weight of animal, carrier and food, and you pay at the airport after weighing, separately from your own baggage allowance. Three things that add cost: the table does not apply to codeshare flights operated by another carrier, onward flights with a foreign airline are paid to that airline separately, and an open ticket is charged both ways even when the return date is unknown. El Al limits worth knowing before you plan: • Snub-nosed (brachycephalic) dogs and cats are not accepted in the hold or as cargo. This is not red tape: El Al states plainly that some animals can develop breathing difficulty in flight, up to and including death, and that it accepts no liability for it. • To London and Dubai, animals cannot travel in the cabin at all, only as cargo on an air waybill. • Some airports will not release animals as cargo: Bangkok, Amsterdam, Boston, Mumbai, Brussels, Larnaca, Frankfurt, Moscow, Munich, Madrid, Berlin, Prague, Warsaw, Toronto, Vienna, Budapest, Kyiv and Rome. This matters mostly for the return leg or a connection. • Cabin places for animals are limited and subject to approval by El Al's call centre. Book as early as possible, and notify the airline no later than two business days before the flight. Other carriers: Israir is cabin only. Foreign airlines serving Israel, such as Lufthansa, Air France, KLM, Swiss, Turkish and Aegean, generally offer both cabin and hold, each with its own price, weight limit and carrier dimensions, so check yours specifically. The ban on snub-nosed breeds in the hold is common to them too.

The United States: the hard one, and it surprises people

This is the most common point of failure, because most people assume the US is an easy destination. It is not, and specifically because of Israel. The CDC classifies Israel (including the West Bank and Gaza) as a high-risk country for dog rabies. The list was updated in April 2026 and Israel is on it. For a dog that has been in Israel in the six months before entry, that means: • You must reserve a place in advance at a CDC-registered animal care facility. Without that reservation the dog does not enter. • If there is no valid rabies antibody test, the reservation must include a 28-day quarantine. Here a test costing a few hundred shekels saves four weeks of quarantine and what it costs. • The dog must be at least six months old and microchipped. Mind the order: the microchip must be implanted before the rabies vaccination. Vaccinate first and chip afterwards and the vaccination does not count, so it has to be redone and the clock restarts. This mistake is common and cannot be fixed retroactively. • A CDC Dog Import Form (free) and a Certification of Foreign Rabies Vaccination completed by a vet and endorsed by an Israeli government vet. • Entry is only possible through one of eight airports with a registered facility: Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York (JFK), Philadelphia, Seattle and Washington (IAD). There is no entry by land border at all. • The antibody test can be done in Israel: the CDC approves the Kimron laboratory. Note where the liability sits: if the dog is refused entry for any reason, the costs, including temporary housing and returning the animal to Israel, fall on the passenger. The airline is not responsible for the authorities' decision. This is exactly the case where a specialist pet relocation company is worth considering, not as a luxury but as insurance. Cats are not subject to this regime: the CDC requirements described here apply to dogs.

Where it is hard to get in, and why

The simple rule: the more rabies-free a country is, the harder it is to bring an animal in, because it has more to lose. Islands and countries that have eliminated the disease are the strictest. • The European Union: a rabies antibody test is mandatory, and since May 2026 so is a non-commercial import declaration, plus a power of attorney and a five-day window where someone other than the owner accompanies the animal (see the EU section above). • The United States: Israel is classified high-risk, see the section above. • London and Dubai: El Al will not carry an animal to either in the cabin at all, only as cargo on an air waybill. That changes both the price and the animal's experience. • Canada: looks easy, is not. Canada classifies Israel as a high-risk country for dog rabies, and since September 2022 the entry of "commercial dogs" from those countries is prohibited outright. The definition of commercial is much broader than it sounds: it covers a dog sent for adoption, fostering, resale, breeding or show. A dog adopted in Israel and sent to an adopter in Canada cannot enter, with any amount of testing. A privately owned dog travelling with its owner as a pet is not covered by the ban, and in Canada that is actually one of the easier cases: no antibody test, no quarantine and no import permit, mainly a rabies vaccination certificate. The two cases are exact opposites, and readers who cross them get it wrong in both directions, either abandoning a move that was allowed or planning a shipment that is prohibited. Confirm with the Canadian authority which of the two you are. • The United Kingdom: an antibody test is required, with a three-month wait from the date the blood was drawn. And there is a separate trap: the final leg of the journey into Great Britain must be on a carrier and route approved for animals, and as of September 2026 no Israeli airline is on that list. That does not mean a pet cannot come from Israel, it means routing the last leg with an approved carrier. The list is updated frequently, so check it close to booking. • Iceland: effectively closed. Israel is not on the list of approved exporting countries, and the rule there requires the animal to have been in an approved country since birth, or for at least six months before import. • Japan: an antibody test with a 180-day wait counted from the day the blood was drawn, plus advance notification to the quarantine service at the port of entry. Important: no laboratory in Israel is recognised by Japan, so the sample must be sent to an approved lab abroad, which lengthens the process. • Singapore: at least 30 days of quarantine in a government facility booked in advance, re-vaccination on arrival, and again the Israeli laboratory is not recognised. • Hong Kong: requires no antibody test at all, which makes it easy to mistake for an easy destination. The difficulty is entirely different: 120 days of quarantine, and a waiting list for a place in the facility measured in months. Budget for a queue slot, not for blood tests, or you will miss the thing that actually delays you. • Australia and New Zealand: among the hardest in the world. Both require an antibody test, a long waiting period measured in months, an import permit obtained in advance and quarantine on arrival, and both accept animals as cargo only. Australia adds a further testing requirement that is particularly relevant coming from Israel. Planning six months or more ahead is not unusual, and the exact requirements must come from the import authority there. • Hawaii: two layers. Federally, the CDC has no registered facility in Hawaii, so a dog from a high-risk country such as Israel cannot enter the United States through Hawaii at all, only through one of the eight listed airports. At state level, Hawaii requires an antibody test run at one of four approved US laboratories, not in Israel, and a 30-day wait from the day the lab received the sample. Meet every condition and there is no quarantine; miss one and quarantine runs up to 120 days. • Turkey: an antibody test with a three-month wait. And something worth saying plainly: Turkish law provides that a non-compliant animal is returned to origin, and where it cannot be returned or isolated it may be destroyed without compensation, with costs falling on the owner. There is no guaranteed right to quarantine as a remedy. Turkey is not a place to arrive with partial paperwork and hope it works out. And a warning that matters especially here: some Turkish consulate pages state requirements that are lighter than the regulation itself. One consular page omits the antibody test entirely and gives a 15-day vaccination window, where the regulation requires a much longer chain: a wait after vaccination, the blood drawn after that, and then three months before travel. Anyone relying on the consular page can arrive around four months short of what is actually required, which is exactly the situation the refusal-or-destruction provision covers. For Turkey, check against the regulation itself rather than a consular page, however official that page looks. • Dubai and the UAE: an antibody test, an import permit obtained in advance, and a higher-than-usual minimum age. The Emirati authority publishes no waiting period after the test, but confirm that with them before booking tickets, because an error in that direction costs you the flight. Remember too that El Al will not carry an animal to Dubai in the cabin. And if you have a Rottweiler, Doberman or Boxer: different official Emirati sources disagree about whether those breeds are barred, so in that case get written confirmation from the authority before booking anything. • Thailand: one of the straightforward destinations, which is worth saying so the picture is not uniformly grim. No antibody test is required and there is no routine quarantine when the paperwork is in order, a permit is applied for in advance, and cabin travel is possible. On banned breeds, different official Thai sites contradict each other, so anyone arriving with a breed from the disputed lists should get written confirmation first. The rule repeated across every official source is the same: the destination country decides, including whether the animal flies in the cabin, in the hold or as cargo. Start with the authority there, not with the airline. And because requirements change, and for the EU they changed in April and May 2026, verify them again close to booking.

Leaving the animal in Israel: kennels, home boarding, sitters

The Ministry of Agriculture itself recommends avoiding pet air travel where it is not necessary, particularly for short trips and particularly for pregnant animals, because flying is stressful. For most trips, leaving the animal at home is the right call. Three options, at September 2026 prices: • A standard boarding kennel: about ₪60 to ₪150 a day. Weekends and holidays cost more, sometimes ₪90 to ₪120 a day even at places that charge less midweek. • Home boarding, where the animal stays in a carer's home with a few other dogs: about ₪60 to ₪120 a day. Suits a dog that is stressed by kennels or noise. • Luxury boarding: ₪120 to ₪200 a day. • Cats are cheaper, roughly ₪45 to ₪60 a day, usually with tiered discounts for longer stays (for example ₪60 up to ten days, ₪55 beyond ten, ₪48 beyond twenty). • A dog walker or a sitter who comes to your home: about ₪30 to ₪40 for a half-hour walk and ₪40 to ₪60 per hour of care. For cats this is usually the best option, since a cat is far less stressed in its own home. Three questions worth asking before you commit: which vaccinations the facility requires and by when, what happens if the animal falls ill while you are abroad and who decides, and how many dogs share a space. Over holidays and in summer the good places fill weeks ahead, so book boarding when you book the flight, not after.

Common mistakes

• Starting a month before. For destinations requiring an antibody test the timeline is measured in months, not weeks. The common recommendation is at least three months, and more for the hard countries. • Getting the health certificate too early. Ten days, as above. • Buying a carrier by what looks comfortable. It has to meet the airline's specification, and the animal must be able to stand, turn around and lie down in it. Measure the animal before buying. • Not acclimatising the animal to the crate. The Ministry recommends leaving the crate open at home, with the door off and comfortable bedding inside, so the animal chooses to go in, for weeks before the flight. • Assuming last time's rules still apply. They change, and for the EU they changed in May 2026. • Forgetting the return leg. Entering Israel is a separate process with its own requirements, and a stay longer than 30 days needs a fresh certificate from the authorities where you are.

FAQ

How much does it cost to fly a dog out of Israel?

One way, around ₪2,000 in the simple case of a small dog in the cabin to a destination that needs no testing, and ₪12,000 or more for a large dog in the hold to a destination requiring a rabies antibody test. The parts: ₪46 government certificate fee, ₪350 to ₪850 for the health certificate at a private vet, ₪600 to ₪1,400 for the antibody test if required, $100 to $450 for the animal's ticket, plus a carrier.

What is the maximum weight for a dog in El Al's cabin?

9 kg including the carrier, meaning a genuinely small dog. Above that and up to 100 kg the animal flies as checked baggage in the hold, and above 100 kg only through the cargo department. The weight is taken at the airport and covers the animal, the carrier and the food together. Foreign carriers sit around 8 kg and up, so check yours specifically.

How far in advance should I start?

At least three months for a normal destination requiring a rabies antibody test, and longer for countries with heavy requirements. The health certificate signature itself belongs at the very end, because it is valid for only ten days.

Do I need to repeat the rabies antibody test for every flight?

No. Per the Ministry of Agriculture the rabies antibody test is valid for the animal's entire life, as long as the rabies vaccination chain is maintained without a gap. The vaccination itself is valid for a year. The expensive test is a one-off.

Can I send my dog ahead before I move?

To the EU, only within a narrow window: if the animal is accompanied by someone other than the owner, the owner must arrive in the destination country within five days before or after the animal. Outside that window it is classified as a commercial export with different requirements. A power of attorney and a non-commercial import declaration are also required.

What do I need to fly a dog to the United States?

The CDC classifies Israel as a high-risk country for dog rabies, so you need a reservation in advance at a CDC-registered facility, and without a valid rabies antibody test that reservation must include a 28-day quarantine. A microchip, a minimum age, and CDC forms completed by a vet and endorsed by a government vet are also required. Some US destinations will not accept dogs at all. If the dog is refused, all costs fall on the passenger. These requirements apply to dogs, not cats.

What does boarding cost if I do not take the animal?

About ₪60 to ₪150 a day at a standard kennel, ₪60 to ₪120 for home boarding, and ₪120 to ₪200 for luxury boarding. Cats run about ₪45 to ₪60 a day, usually with a discount for longer stays. Over holidays and in summer prices rise and places sell out weeks ahead.

Sources

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