Pet travel route
Taking a dog or cat from Ireland → China
What the official rules ask for on this route, for a family pet travelling with its owner. Enter your travel date and your pet’s details to turn it into a dated checklist.
Limited official guidance. The authority for entering China publishes little for this route. Everything it does say is here, with its wording. This is the customs announcement of 2019 plus Shanghai's English summary (2023). The announcement's attachments (the detailed quarantine requirements, the laboratories whose antibody test reports customs accepts and the ports with quarantine facilities) are on the customs site, which we cannot read, so deadlines for the vaccination and the blood test, and the official list of designated countries, are missing. Confirm with Chinese customs or your airline before you travel.
How early to start
9 weeks
if your pet has no microchip or rabies vaccination yet (the least time the official waiting periods allow)
9 weeks
if it is already microchipped and vaccinated
Counted only from the officially fixed waiting periods. Vet, lab and paperwork appointment times are on top, so start earlier.
Which rules apply to you
Ireland is in the group “Designated country or region: a pet with a valid chip that passes the on-site check is exempt from quarantine” in China’s published list.See every group
Headlines for China
- Rabies blood test for some origins
What your dog or cat needs
Bringing a dog or cat into China: we summarised this from a short or older official page and it is still under review, so it may be incomplete.
Identification
Electronic microchip
Your pet must have an electronic microchip; a valid chip is needed for any exemption from quarantine.
Details and the official words
“宠物应当具有电子芯片。”
“（一）来自指定国家或者地区携带入境的宠物，具有有效电子芯片，经现场检疫合格的；”
Vaccination
Rabies vaccination certificate
You must give customs a rabies vaccination certificate issued by the official animal quarantine authority of the country or region you leave. The announcement gives no timing; its attachment may.
Details and the official words
“携带宠物入境的，携带人应当向海关提供输出国家或者地区官方动物检疫机构出具的有效检疫证书和狂犬病疫苗接种证书。”
Vet exam
Official clinical inspection within 14 days before arrival
The official agency of the country or region you leave inspects your pet for rabies and other infectious or parasitic disease within 14 days before it arrives in China.
Details and the official words
“Pets must undergo an animal health clinical inspection conducted by the official agencies of the departing country or region within 14 days prior to their arrival in China.”
Paperwork
Quarantine certificate from the official animal quarantine authority
You must give customs a valid quarantine certificate issued by the official animal quarantine authority of the country or region you leave.
Details and the official words
Government stamp and signature from your Regional Veterinary Office: The most likely scenario: you and your private vet prepare the pet (vaccinations, blood tests and so on) and fill in the health certificate the destination asks for, then you bring it to your local Regional Veterinary Office for a government stamp and signature.
DAFM's page gives no deadline for how recent the certificate must be: the destination's own requirements decide.
“携带宠物入境的，携带人应当向海关提供输出国家或者地区官方动物检疫机构出具的有效检疫证书和狂犬病疫苗接种证书。”
“The most likely scenario is that you and your private vet will prepare the pet (vaccinations, blood tests etc.) and provide a health certificate, that you can then bring to your local Regional Veterinary Office to get a government stamp and signature”
Notice
Contact your Regional Veterinary Office at least 2 months before you travel
Contact your Regional Veterinary Office at least 2 months before the trip so it can certify the documents. The department may not be able to sign your pet's documents if you contact it later.
Details and the official words
“make sure you plan well in advance and contact the Regional Veterinary Office at least 2 months in advance of travel to ensure that necessary documentation can be certified by department officials”
“The department may not be able to sign documentation for your pet to travel if you have not contacted your Regional Veterinary Office at least two months in advance of travel with your pet.”
Good to know
- Only dogs and cats can be carried in, and only one pet per person per entry. Pets over the limit may be returned or destroyed.
- A pet that is not exempt (no chip, no accepted antibody test report when required, or signs of disease at the on-site check) is quarantined for 30 days at a site designated by customs, and must enter through a port with quarantine facilities.
- The list of designated countries, the laboratories whose antibody test reports customs accepts and the ports with quarantine facilities are whatever China's customs publishes; they may differ from what we show.
- Ireland does not keep the entry (certification) requirements of other countries: contact the destination country for them, then follow its instructions for the health certificate. Allow enough time for any required tests.
- No tapeworm treatment is needed to leave Ireland. A dog needs the treatment from a vet abroad before it returns to Ireland.
- Make sure your pet qualifies to return to Ireland: the same rules apply to re-enter from a non-EU country whether the pet usually lives there or is an Irish pet that was there briefly on holiday.
- Planning to bring your pet back to the EU? After a short stay in a non-EU country you can skip the 3-month wait after the rabies blood test, but only if, before you leave the EU, your pet was vaccinated against rabies, passed a successful titer test, and your vet recorded both in its EU pet passport. So do the blood test before you go.
Common questions
Does my dog or cat need a rabies blood test to go from Ireland to China?
We couldn't find this in our summary of the rules, but that summary is short and still under review. Ask the official authority before you rely on it.
Do I need an import permit to bring my dog or cat into China?
We couldn't find this in our summary of the rules, but that summary is short and still under review. Ask the official authority before you rely on it.
Will my dog or cat be quarantined in China?
We couldn't find this in our summary of the rules, but that summary is short and still under review. Ask the official authority before you rely on it.
Does my dog or cat need a microchip?
Yes: Your pet must have an electronic microchip; a valid chip is needed for any exemption from quarantine.