Pet travel route
Taking a dog or cat from Portugal → Türkiye
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.
We’re re-checking these rules. An official source they rely on has changed since we last verified them, so something here may be out of date. Before you book or travel, confirm the details with the official authority.
- Türkiye'ye kedi-köpek girişi için gerekli şartlar (Trabzon Port Veterinary Border Control Point, 16 May 2025) · page changed, noticed 12 Oct 2026
Limited official guidance. The authority for leaving Portugal publishes little for this route. Everything it does say is here, with its wording. DGAV's page gives no fixed deadline or fee: the destination's requirements, which DGAV lists country by country in its Certific@+ system, decide what you need.
Limited official guidance. The authority for entering Türkiye publishes little for this route. Everything it does say is here, with its wording. The conditions come from the ministry's border veterinary offices (Istanbul Airport, Trabzon Port) and its certificate form; the regulation they refer to is not quoted here. An older notice named banned dog breeds, but the current pages we read don't, so ask the border office at your entry point. The Istanbul page says the certificate is issued within 2 days before travel while the certificate itself says the clinical examination is within 24 hours: plan for the stricter.
How early to start
about 4 months
if your pet has no microchip or rabies vaccination yet (the least time the official waiting periods allow)
about 3 months
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.
Headlines for Türkiye
- Rabies blood test required
What your dog or cat needs
Identification
Microchip
Your pet must be microchipped (ISO 11784 / ISO 11785), and the rabies vaccination must be given after the microchip. Bring a reader if your chip isn't ISO standard.
Details and the official words
“The pet must be microchipped.”
“Rabies vaccination must be administered subsequent to the microchip implantation.”
“When electronic identification is used, the type of microchip must comply with ISO Standard 11784 or ISO Standard 11785.”
Vaccination
Rabies vaccination (inactivated vaccine)
Vaccinate your pet against rabies after its microchip was implanted, with an inactivated vaccine produced to the WOAH (OIE) rules. A booster given after the previous vaccination has expired counts as a first vaccination.
Details and the official words
“The rabies vaccine used must be an inactivated vaccine produced in accordance with OIE”
“Rabies vaccination must be administered subsequent to the microchip implantation.”
Blood test
Rabies antibody test (0.5 IU or more) and a 3-month wait
At least 30 days after the rabies vaccination, a vet takes a blood sample for a rabies antibody titration test at an EU-approved laboratory, with a result above 0.5 IU/ml. After the first test you must wait 90 days (the Trabzon office counts 3 months from the blood sample) before entering Türkiye. The wait applies only to the first test: if the vaccination is renewed within its validity, later trips don't need it.
Details and the official words
Older notices gave a different interval between the vaccination and the test (21 days); the current Istanbul page says 30 days.
“At least 30 days following the rabies vaccination, a rabies antibody titration test must be conducted at an accredited laboratory listed below, and the test result must demonstrate a titre value exceeding 0.5 IU.”
“In the case of the initial titration test, a waiting period of 90 days from the date of the test result must be observed prior to travel.”
“Dikkat: kuduz titrasyon testi için kan serumu alınma tarihinden itibaren en erken 3 ay sonra ülkeye giriş yapılabilir.”
Vet exam
Clinical examination within 24 hours before travel
The certificate's clinical examination (your pet is free of clinical signs and fit to travel) must be done within 24 hours before movement.
Details and the official words
“The clinical examination(Part IX) must be done within 24 hours before movement.”
Paperwork
Veterinary health certificate from the exporting country's authority
The competent authority of the exporting country issues the ministry's Veterinary Health and Origin Certificate within 2 days before travel (it records the microchip, the rabies vaccination and the antibody test, and is signed and stamped by the official vet).
Details and the official words
Request the certificate in DGAV's Certific@+ system and collect the paper original: To get the certification the destination requires, use DGAV's Certific@+ system, where you have to register. Information about the health conditions required is also there, and you don't need to register to read it. After the certificate is issued, you must go to the DGAV office you are told to, to collect the health certificate: the paper document is essential for the trip.
DGAV's page gives no deadline for how recent the certificate must be: the destination's own requirements decide.
“Within 2 days prior to travel, a Veterinary Health Certificate , as stipulated in the annex of the relevant regulation below, must be issued by the competent authority of the exporting country.”
“I have seen an official record of the result of a serological test for the animal”
“Para obtenção da certificação exigida, deve utilizar um sistema informático denominado Certific@+”
“após emissão do certificado, será necessário que se desloque ao Serviço da DGAV que lhe for indicado”
“(documento em suporte físico essencial para a viagem)”
Good to know
- A passenger may bring a maximum of 2 animals (for example 2 cats, or 1 cat and 1 dog). The documents must be made out separately for each animal.
- At entry you need the animal's passport (identification document), the original rabies antibody test result and the veterinary health certificate.
- If you only pass through Türkiye to another country and your pet does not enter, you only have to meet the destination country's health conditions.
- Unvaccinated cats, dogs and ferrets under 3 months old may be allowed in only if they meet the health conditions the ministry sets for the rabies status of the country they come from: ask the border office.
- DGAV says its information is not exhaustive: the destination's health authorities can change their rules without notice. Plan ahead, because the destination may have to be consulted and that can take time.
- In most cases the trip needs certificates issued in Portugal. For some countries only official involvement in the animal's own documents is needed, and for a few no official involvement at all. DGAV has a page per destination and species where you can confirm which applies.
- Ask the transport company about the way your pet will be carried: the carrier's rules are separate.
- 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 Portugal to Türkiye?
Yes: At least 30 days after the rabies vaccination, a vet takes a blood sample for a rabies antibody titration test at an EU-approved laboratory, with a result above 0.5 IU/ml.
Do I need an import permit to bring my dog or cat into Türkiye?
No. The official rules we have verified for this route don't ask for an import permit.
Will my dog or cat be quarantined in Türkiye?
Not on the routes we have verified: the official rules list no quarantine for a pet that meets the requirements.
Does my dog or cat need a microchip?
Yes: Your pet must be microchipped (ISO 11784 / ISO 11785), and the rabies vaccination must be given after the microchip.