How to move to Portugal with a dog or cat
This guide is for those bringing a dog or cat to Portugal by air or overland. Below is the order of things to do: which documents are usually needed, what to check before you leave, how the flight goes and what to do after you arrive so that your pet is registered under local rules.
First check your route and the rules of your particular airline
Start not with the documents but with the route. When moving with a pet, it matters a great deal whether it travels in the cabin or in the hold, what the airline's weight limits are including the carrier, and what the requirements for the carrier are. Rules differ between carriers more than you might think.
For the cabin there is usually a weight limit for the animal together with the carrier; if you are over it, the animal goes in the hold. You need to find this out before buying the ticket or right when you buy it, because the number of animals on a flight may be limited. If you have a connection, check the rules for each leg separately.
“Flew Turkish many times with a little Yorkie. Turkish take cats and dogs up to 8 kg in the cabin, heavier ones in the hold. In the cabin the standard fee is around 300 euros and change.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkRussosEmPortugal20.08.2026
Check which country you are entering from and gather the right set of veterinary documents
From here everything depends on the country of departure. If you are entering from an EU country, you usually need an EU Pet Passport (European pet passport) with a valid rabies vaccination and a microchip. If you are entering from a non-EU country, the rules are stricter: you usually need a microchip, a rabies vaccination, sometimes a rabies antibody test, and an official veterinary certificate for entry into the EU.
If you are travelling from or via Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Turkey or Serbia, the requirements for documents and transit need to be checked again separately before the trip. Under older practice people often relied on titres and a clinical examination stamp, but the procedure depends on where you actually enter the EU and on whether the connection counts as transit without leaving the international zone. On such routes it is best to check the rules with DGAV (Direção-Geral de Alimentação e Veterinária, the main veterinary authority) and with the airline on the same day.
“If the titres are fine, then before the flight you only do a clinical examination at the vet. Then I went to DGVA, they stamped the passport + gave a printout that the dog is in the system. This is debatable, the vet (our Nadya from the chat) said that with a European passport we didn't need to get anything and she's actually right! But DGVA will happily give you everything, because they're convinced that in Russia we'll be strictly checked on entry (spoiler: no). You can find more information in the ‘Taking my rabbits away’ chat, there will probably be stories there about flying via Serbia, we flew via Istanbul.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkportugal_pets13.11.2025
“I wrote to them, I wanted to register on the website (certifica+@) - the vet told me to attach the flight number and the certificates for the titres, the clinical examination and a photo of the passport pages with the vaccinations. In the end they said nothing was needed. ‘A health certificate is not required for travel to Russia, but an official check of the EU pet passport by the regional DGAV services is required. Please see the attached document ‘CS30 – Health status (…)’ for the requirements applicable to entering Russia on a direct flight from Portugal.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkportugal_pets23.07.2025
Get a microchip and make sure it is recorded in the documents
To enter Portugal a dog or cat must have a microchip, and it must be implanted before the rabies vaccination or at least correctly linked to it by date in the documents. The chip number must match in all papers: the passport, the certificate and any extracts.
After arriving in Portugal, local registration is especially important for dogs: the details are entered into SIAC (Sistema de Informação de Animais de Companhia, the pet database), and the owner is given a DIAC (Documento de Identificação do Animal de Companhia, the pet identification document). In practice the vet does this after chipping or when transferring the details.
“Yes, in Portugal a microchip and registration in SIAC are compulsory for a dog. After chipping, the vet enters the details into SIAC and issues the DIAC — Documento de Identificação do Animal de Companhia; this document must accompany the dog. On vaccinations: under the official rules, rabies vaccination is compulsory for dogs from 3 months (12 weeks). For other vaccines the vet usually gives a puppy the basic jabs according to age and schedule.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkRussosEmPortugal25.07.2026
Get the rabies vaccination and wait the required period
What matters about the rabies vaccination is not only that your pet has it, but also how long it is valid for travel. If it is the first vaccination after chipping, a minimum waiting period usually has to pass before the animal can be taken into the EU. If the booster was given on time, you usually do not need to wait again.
For puppies and kittens age matters: the rabies vaccination is not given before a set age, so very young animals cannot be brought in under the usual procedure. Do not plan your journey too tightly — mistakes in the dates are one of the most common reasons a trip falls through.
If your country requires a rabies antibody test, do it well in advance
For some non-EU countries a rabies antibody titration test is required (often called ‘titres’). It is usually done only after the rabies vaccination, then the blood is sent to an approved laboratory, and once the result is in, a further waiting period before entry may be required.
This is exactly the stage where the rules are often confused with the requirements for re-entering third countries. So look not at someone else's ‘how we once did it’ but at the requirements for your route: country of departure, country of transit, country of entry. If you already have a valid test and no gap in vaccinations, this can make further trips much easier.
“I went in the autumn, not by train but by car. On entering Ukraine they didn't even look at my dogs' documents.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkportugal_pets30.07.2026
A few days before the flight, get a vet check and, if needed, an official certificate
Right before the trip you usually need a clinical examination at the vet. If you are flying from a non-EU country, an official veterinary certificate for travel into the EU is often issued through the state veterinary service after the examination. If you are flying within the EU or already have an EU Pet Passport, a separate certificate may not be needed, but an examination before the journey is still sensible.
From people's experience, in Portugal certificates and extracts are not always issued straight away: some clinics send the documents later by email. So do not leave this step until the last day.
Choose a carrier that strictly meets the airline's rules
For the cabin you need a soft carrier, or one approved by the airline, of a size that fits under the seat. For the hold you usually need a rigid carrier with good ventilation, a secure door and fastenings. Many airlines specifically require an IATA-compatible crate (a carrier that meets international rules for transporting animals by air).
Check not only the outer dimensions but also the animal's comfort: your pet must be able to stand up, turn round and lie down. For large dogs this is especially important, and this is where extra costs and an urgent change of crate often come up.
“We flew Tap, dog in the hold. The planes have climate control, the dog coped with everything really well, we got him back healthy and happy. We flew during an extreme heatwave here and in New York (40C), the airline kept the dogs downstairs in a very busy spot, loaded them onto the plane last and took them off first on arrival, we were still sitting on the plane and saw them (2 crates) being loaded into an air-conditioned van.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkportugal_pets06.08.2026
Confirm your pet's transport with the airline and get to the airport early
After buying the ticket you almost always have to confirm the animal's transport with the airline separately. The owner's ticket alone is not enough. Check whether your pet has been added to the booking, whether transport is paid in advance or at the airport, and whether you need a separate confirmation number.
On the day of departure arrive early: at the desk they may take longer to check the documents, the weight of the animal with the carrier and whether the carrier meets the rules. If the animal goes in the hold, it is usually taken separately. From recent experience, transport in the hold with the big airlines goes as normal, but a lot depends on how things are organised on the particular flight and at the particular airport.
After arriving in Portugal, book an appointment with a local vet
After entry it is worth going as soon as possible to a Clínica Veterinária (vet clinic) or a local veterinarian: to check your pet's general condition after the journey, transfer the vaccination history, discuss protection against ticks, fleas and mosquitoes and find out whether extra treatments are needed for your particular region.
If the dog already lives in Portugal, the vet also helps with registration in SIAC and issuing the DIAC, if this has not been done yet. For older animals or pets with chronic illnesses it is better to find a clinic that suits you straight away, rather than looking for one in an emergency.
For dogs, see local registration through to the end
In Portugal a microchip and registration in SIAC are compulsory for dogs. Usually, after chipping or checking an existing chip, the vet enters the details and issues the DIAC. Keep this document together with the pet passport.
If you plan to travel on from Portugal later, especially back to non-EU countries, check in advance whether you need only the passport or also a stamp/check at DGAV. In more recent stories people sometimes went to DGAV for an extra stamp, although with a European passport this was not always actually required — here a lot depends on the country you are entering next rather than on Portugal.
What it costs, according to community conversations
| transporting a small dog or cat in the cabin with Turkish Airlines | around €300 and change | source |
| urgent vet consultation | €40 | source |
What to bring
- Pet passport: an EU Pet Passport (European passport), if you already have one, or an international pet passport with up-to-date entries
- Microchip and chip number, matching in all documents
- Valid rabies vaccination
- Result of a rabies antibody titration test, if your country of departure requires it
- Official veterinary certificate for entry into the EU, if you are entering from a non-EU country
- The airline's confirmation of your pet's transport
- A carrier that meets the airline's rules
- DIAC (Documento de Identificação do Animal de Companhia, the pet identification document) — for dogs, once registered in Portugal
Where people most often trip up
- People buy a ticket and then find out that the animal has not been added to the booking or that the flight has no pet quota left.
- They get the cabin weight limit wrong: they count only the animal's weight and forget the carrier.
- They choose a carrier ‘by eye’, and at the airport it fails on size or design.
- They confuse the rules for entering the EU with the rules for re-entering Russia, Ukraine or another country.
- They give the rabies vaccination before the chip, or the dates in the documents are in the wrong order.
- They leave the certificate or vet check until the last day, and the clinic sends the documents only a few days later.
- They rely on old procedures for titres and transit, although the rules and how checks are done keep changing.
- After arriving they do not see the dog's local registration in SIAC through to the end.
How it went for people
Returning to Portugal with a dog
A person travelled with their dog from Portugal to New York and back on an EU pet passport. No separate official health certificate was needed: a vet's entry in the passport was enough, but an official form had to be filled in before entering the US. To return to Portugal, they sent a form to the airport before arrival and paid a €42.25 fee, and also showed a valid residence permit and a recent paid water or electricity bill. In Lisbon the rabies vaccination was checked, and the queue for the veterinary check took more than two hours.
A dog was taken into quarantine because of an expired vaccination
A dog nipped a passer-by on the hand — no blood and no complaint from him, but the police were called. The chip could not be read on the spot, the owners were not allowed to go home for the dog's passport even though home was nearby, and the municipal animal service in Cascais took the dog away without issuing any papers. When the owners had sorted everything out with the police and the man and came back with the documents, it turned out that their previous vet had given the wrong expiry date for the rabies vaccination and it had lapsed. The dog was kept in a kennel for a compulsory fifteen-day quarantine, with no visits and no document saying it was even there; the police said such quarantine is usually allowed at home, but it is the municipal vet who decides.
What a family changed after their dog was taken away
After their dog was seized — mainly because it could not be identified by its chip — the family had the chip checked at three different clinics on three different scanners and made sure it could be read. They bought full insurance that also covers cases like this, so that next time lawyers would deal with any disputes. They now carry the dog's documents with them all the time. They keep track of vaccinations so that none lapses even by a day, although the country is considered rabies-free and the requirements here are softer.
They went to the police themselves — and it saved them from a claim two months later
A Jack Russell terrier snapped at an elderly woman's bag and lightly caught her leg. They could not explain themselves — the woman spoke only Portuguese — but she wrote down the car's number plate and left. The owner went straight to her vet, who advised her to go to the PSP (the public security police); on the police's referral the dog was examined twice at a state veterinary clinic, and a month later the owner brought the police a certificate that the dog was healthy. The woman came to the police only two months later — she was told there was nothing to file a complaint about and was advised simply to ask for her medical costs to be reimbursed.
Attack by other dogs in a park: stitches under sedation and no contact details
One evening at the entrance to a park in Vila Nova de Gaia, two large fighting-breed dogs — off the lead and without muzzles — went for two miniature schnauzers being walked on leads. The owners of the attacking dogs could not pull them off: one bit and would not let go. One of the schnauzers had stitches put in under sedation at an out-of-hours vet clinic. In their fright the owners did not get a name or phone number from the other dogs' owners, who simply walked off; there are cameras on site, but to get the footage you need an official complaint to the police.
Retold in our own words from messages in open chats. The link leads to the full original message.