Cat Relocation · Dubai, UAE

Cat Relocation Dubai

Foufoufly moves cats into and out of Dubai as manifested air cargo — permits filed, container measured, vaccinations sequenced, customs cleared at both ends. Cats are cheaper to move than most dogs and the paperwork is nearly identical. What differs is temperament, breed restrictions and the fact that two cats can often travel in one container.

One thing to settle first, because it is the question everybody asks: your cat cannot fly in the cabin with you to or from the UAE. No airline serving Dubai permits it. Here is what happens instead.

By Sam Jamal, CEO, Foufoufly — 500 relocations, zero rejections
Published SEP 2026 · Last updated SEP 2026

Why your cat cannot fly in the cabin

Cats flying to or from the UAE travel as manifested air cargo. Not in the cabin, not as checked baggage. Emirates carries no pets in the passenger cabin at all — falcons on certain regional routes are the single exception — and cats are handled by Emirates SkyCargo instead. The UAE's own import rules say the same thing from the other direction: pets enter the country as cargo, with certified assistance animals excepted.

That sounds worse than it is. The live animal hold is pressurised and temperature-controlled to the same conditions as the cabin, animals are loaded last and offloaded first, and a cargo booking is the only arrangement that gives you confirmed space on a specific aircraft. A cabin request, where it exists at all, can be refused at the gate. A cargo booking cannot.

It also means your cat does not pass through the passenger terminal. It is lodged at the cargo facility, held in the animal holding area, and released at the destination to the consignee named on the air waybill. If that name is wrong nobody can collect the cat — the most avoidable delay in the whole process, and one we check twice.

The mechanics of the cargo side are covered in pet shipping Dubai and, cat-specifically, in cat shipping Dubai.

Flat-faced cats and the breeds carriers restrict

Brachycephalic cats — the flat-faced breeds — have shortened airways that cope badly with heat and stress, so carriers restrict them. Owners are usually surprised by how long the list is and that it is not limited to Persians.

Emirates SkyCargo names six restricted cat breeds: Persian, Himalayan, Exotic Shorthair, Exotic Fold (Foldex), Scottish Fold and Burmese. Where these breeds are accepted at all, acceptance is seasonal — broadly the cooler months, from around November to April — and subject to temperature at both ends of the route on the day. Other carriers keep their own lists, and the lists do not match, so a cat refused by one airline may be accepted by another on the same route.

This is routing work rather than a closed door. For a flat-faced cat we look for a direct night departure with a carrier that accepts the breed, in the right season, with no connection to sit through. If your route genuinely has no such option in the month you wanted, you will hear that from us on the first call — not after you have paid for a vaccination schedule.

More on the breathing risk and how airlines assess it in snub-nosed breeds and flying.

Multi-cat households

Two cats can often share one container

This is the single biggest saving available to a two-cat household, and almost nobody publishes it. Under the IATA Live Animals Regulations, two adult animals of comparable size, each up to 14 kg, that are compatible and used to living together may travel in the same container. Above 14 kg each animal is crated individually.

Since airlines charge live animal cargo on volumetric weight — the space the container occupies rather than what the cat weighs — two cats in one correctly sized container cost materially less than two containers. Most domestic cats sit far below the 14 kg ceiling, so the real question is temperament, not weight: cats that already share a bed travel well together, and cats that fight do not.

Two details worth knowing. Ventilation apertures on a cat container must be no larger than 19 mm × 19 mm, which is why a dog crate of the right size is not automatically acceptable for a cat. And some destination countries require cats to be crated individually regardless of the IATA allowance, so the shared container is checked against the destination rule before it is specified, not after.

The container must let each cat stand fully upright, turn around completely and lie down naturally. We measure and specify it — nose to base of tail, height to the top of the head — before anything is bought.

Service Tiers

What is included

Three tiers, from AED 4,000. The difference is how much of it lands on your desk.

All prices are quoted in AED and include 5% UAE VAT. Terms apply; service availability is subject to route, breed and season.

Step by Step

How cat relocation works

1. Eligibility and routing

   Breed, age, weight and destination. For a flat-faced cat this is where we establish which carriers will accept it and in which months. For kittens it is where the minimum age rules bite — 12 weeks arriving from a low-risk country, 15 weeks from a high-risk one.

2. Timeline built backwards

   From your moving date, not forwards from today. Most cat moves need a few weeks. Australia needs six to seven months because of a fixed 180-day waiting period that cannot be shortened. Everything else is scheduled around the fixed points.

3. Microchip and vaccinations

   An ISO 11784/11785 microchip must be implanted before or on the same day as the rabies vaccination — vaccinate first and the UAE will not recognise the vaccine, and the whole schedule restarts. The rabies vaccine needs the cat to be at least 12 weeks old, given at least 21 days before travel and inside the previous 12 months. Cats also need FVRCP cover: panleukopenia, rhinotracheitis and calicivirus, again at least 21 days out.

4. Permits and certificates

   The MOCCAE permit is filed online before travel and has a short validity window, so it is applied for close to the flight rather than months ahead. The health certificate is issued inside its own window — within 10 days of travel for a UAE export — and every microchip number must match across every document.

5. Container fitting and acclimatisation

   Measured to your cat, then given to you weeks early. Leave it open at home with a blanket inside and let the cat claim it. A cat that already sleeps in its container travels far better than one meeting it at the cargo terminal. We do not sedate cats for flight and no reputable shipper will — sedation depresses breathing at altitude.

6. Collection, flight, delivery

   Collection from your door, lodgement at the cargo terminal, clearance at the destination, delivery to the new address, with confirmation at each checkpoint. See our full pet relocation process for the detail.

Moving a cat into Dubai

The UAE has no routine quarantine for cats. Provided the documentation is complete and consistent, your cat clears the animal reception facility at the cargo terminal and goes home the same day. Incomplete paperwork from a high-risk country is the one scenario that leads to quarantine, at the owner's expense.

Two limits catch people out. The UAE allows a maximum of two pets imported per person per year, so a three-cat household needs planning rather than a single booking. And whether your origin country counts as low-risk or high-risk decides both the minimum age and whether a titre test is needed at all — the UK, Germany, France, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand are among those treated as low-risk, so cats from those countries need no antibody test.

The full documentation picture is in our UAE pet import requirements guide, the antibody test itself in our rabies titre test guide, and the document set as a whole in pet passport Dubai. What quarantine means in practice — and when it applies — is covered in pet quarantine UAE. Kitten age rules are set out in minimum age to fly.

Cats flying into the UAE

Moving a cat out of Dubai

Every export needs a MOCCAE export permit and a UAE health certificate issued within 10 days of travel. After that the destination sets the timeline, and the two most common destinations sit at opposite ends of it.

Between those two extremes sit most other destinations. Singapore, the rest of Europe, Canada and the US each have their own sequence, and we build the schedule backwards from your moving date in every case. Timelines are set by waiting periods, not by how quickly anyone works.

Cats flying out of the UAE

We work to the current published requirements from MOCCAE, the Australian Department of Agriculture and the destination authority, plus the IATA Live Animals Regulations for containers — verified per shipment rather than from memory.

Pricing

What cat relocation from Dubai costs

Cats sit at the lower end of every band we quote, because the container is smaller and volumetric weight is what airlines charge on. A managed cat move from Dubai to the UK typically lands between AED 13,000 and 20,000 all-in; two cats sharing one container cost far less than twice a single.

Season moves the figure more than owners expect. Summer heat restrictions at both ends push shipments onto night departures with finite cargo space, so booking a July move in May costs more than booking it in March. We quote a single fixed figure covering permits, container, veterinary coordination, airline charges, clearance and delivery, with nothing appearing later.

Experience

Why relocate your cat with Foufoufly

Five hundred relocations, zero rejections. We are based in Dubai — not represented here, not working through an agent — with direct cargo accounts at Emirates SkyCargo, Etihad Cargo, Qatar Airways Cargo, IAG Cargo, Lufthansa Cargo and AFKLMP Cargo. When a flat-faced cat needs the one carrier on your route that will take it, we book it ourselves.

Every move is run by a named coordinator who stays with you from the first call to the delivery confirmation. You will not repeat your cat's medical history to four different people.

Sam Jamal founded Foufoufly after seeing how opaque the process is from the owner's side. The practice is IPATA-aligned and we work to the IATA Live Animals Regulations on every shipment. More about the team.

Moving a dog as well? See dog relocation Dubai — the permits are the same, the crate and the breed rules are not.

FAQ

Cat relocation Dubai — frequently asked questions