Bird Boarding vs Bringing Your Bird Along: An Honest Comparison

That split matters because most Canadians who ask “should I take my bird on vacation” are asking about a US trip, and the US is the one destination in this whole cluster where a personally-owned pet bird, travelling with its owner, runs on genuinely light rules. So we’re going to lead with the case for taking your bird, even though boarding is what we sell — and then give you the honest list of situations where boarding is the right call instead.

Because that route applies, three things fall away that a lot of owners assume they need:

• No US import permit — 9 CFR 93.103(a)(1) specifically excepts the 93.101(c) route from the permit requirement.
• No US veterinary health certificate — 93.104(a) excepts the same route.
• No 30-day US quarantine — 93.106(a) excepts it too.

What’s still required: a port-of-entry veterinary inspection under 93.105, and the signed 90-day possession/no-contact statement above. That’s the whole US side.

The Canadian side eases too, but not completely, and this is the part worth being precise about. Section 69 of the Health of Animals Regulations normally requires an exporter to (a) show a veterinary inspector or accredited veterinarian that the bird meets the importing country’s sanitary requirements, (b) get a signed export certificate confirming inspection and freedom from communicable disease, and (c) show how the transport requirements will be met. Whether a Canadian export certificate is required on this particular US route is the one point on this page we could not verify against a primary source. Some readings of the regulation treat the certificate in paragraph (b) as not applying where the destination does not ask for one; we have not been able to confirm that with CFIA, and we are not going to assert it. What is not in doubt is (a) and (c): the sanitary and transport obligations stay in force either way. Unconfirmed. We could not establish from a primary source whether CFIA requires an export certificate for this route. Treat it as an open question, not as settled: call CFIA at 1-800-442-2342 and ask about your specific bird and destination before you travel. If CFIA says a certificate is needed, CFIA is right and this page is wrong. You still need to be able to show, if asked, that your bird meets the US’s sanitary requirements and that you can meet the transport rules — you just don’t need the piece of paper with the CFIA export stamp on it.

So the accurate summary isn’t “no paperwork.” It’s: no US permit, no US health certificate, no US quarantine, Canadian export certificate: unverified — confirm with CFIA — but the underlying sanitary and transport obligations on the Canadian side stay in force, and you still need the signed 90-day statement and the port inspection on the way in. Whether your particular bird and trip qualify for this route in full turns on species and circumstances specific to you. Worth checking: your bird’s species is treated as a “pet bird” (not a species requiring a Ministerial permit) under the Import Reference Document, and that your planned port and dates meet the 90-day possession/no-contact test — we could not confirm this from an official source. Ask the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (1-800-442-2342) before you rely on it.

Where You Can Actually Cross

9 CFR 93.203(b) lists the Canadian border ports with the facilities to inspect a pet bird on entry. Read with 93.105(b), that list is what applies to a bird using the 93.101(c) route.

What opens the land-border list above to a Canadian bird is 93.105(b), which says pet birds of Canadian origin may be inspected at any port listed in 93.102 and 93.203. Separately, 50 CFR 14.17 points a pet bird at “9 CFR part 92”, which today contains disease-risk classification rather than port designations. Both pointers are stale, which is exactly why the written confirmation matters. If you’re flying instead, our companion article on driving vs flying to the US with your bird goes through carrier policy and airport-specific detail this page doesn’t repeat.

• Any destination other than the United States. The Canadian export certificate and stamp under section 69(1) and 69(3) apply in full, on top of whatever the destination country requires on entry. There’s no equivalent carve-out for other countries.
• A CITES-listed species, anywhere. ECCC permitting sits in front of you, and permits are not issued retroactively — you cannot travel first and sort the paperwork out on the other side. If your bird is CITES-listed, boarding removes that clock entirely.
• A species that isn’t on the US approved list for import. The Wild Bird Conservation Act can bar entry to the US even when the animal-health side (the 93.101(c) route) is fully satisfied. Health clearance and wildlife-trade clearance are two separate gates, and passing one says nothing about the other.
• No carrier on your route will take the bird. Four of the five largest Canada-origin passenger airlines will not take a pet bird, but WestJet does: it lists “Birds (see entrance requirements)” under Pet types (species) accepted in the cabin, at one pet per guest per kennel. If driving isn’t an option for your trip, that’s a hard stop, not a paperwork problem.
• Under 90 days in your possession, or contact with other birds in that window. If your bird doesn’t clear the 93.101(c)(1) test — a recent rehome, a recent boarding stay elsewhere, a bird show — the light US route isn’t available to you at all, and you’re into permit and health-certificate territory regardless of destination.
• Short trips, or a bird whose age or health makes travel a poor idea. A weekend away doesn’t usually justify airport or border stress for either of you, and an elderly or unwell bird may tolerate a familiar routine at home far better than a car or plane cabin.

If the real issue is that your bird can’t come at all — a permanent move rather than a trip — that’s a different question with a different answer, covered in Moving Abroad and You Can’t Take Your Bird. And if you’re mid-application and need somewhere for your bird to live for weeks or months rather than days, see long-term boarding while you relocate.

What genuinely helps is continuity: the same diet you feed at home, the bird’s own toys and a familiar-feeling cage setup, and a written routine so feeding times, sleep schedule and handling stay as close to normal as possible. Daily update videos in the BST Mobile App don’t reduce the bird’s stress, but they let you see how your bird is actually doing rather than guessing from a departure gate.

Boarding rates (current at time of writing — check /pricing/ for today’s) run by size, since a vacation-length stay is usually measured in days or a week rather than months:

A second bird boarded alongside the first gets 50% off if it’s small, or 25% off if it’s medium or larger. Statutory holidays add $5–$10 per bird, per holiday. Book early and you always pay the ordinary price: only last-minute bookings over the Christmas holidays and the August holidays, when we are close to capacity, cost 5–20% more. A deposit secures your dates.

If this timing applies to your situation, Worth checking: whether a boarding stay counts as “contact with poultry or other birds” for the 90-day statement under 9 CFR 93.101(c)(1), and whether facility biosecurity practices affect the answer — we could not confirm this from an official source. Ask the Canadian Food Inspection Agency before you rely on it. before you book around a US trip.

• Use a carrier your bird has already spent time in at home — the first time in a carrier shouldn’t be the day of travel.
• Keep the carrier temperature-controlled; birds are far more sensitive to heat and cold swings than most mammals.
• Pack familiar food rather than switching diets right before or during travel.
• Build in stops on a driving route for fresh water and a check on the bird, and keep the carrier out of direct sun in a parked car even briefly.
• If you’re crossing into the US, have the signed 90-day possession statement with you, and know which designated port you’re using before you leave.

What If My Bird Hasn’t Been With Me For 90 Days?

Then the light 93.101(c)(1) route isn’t available, and you’re into the fuller permit and health-certificate requirements regardless of destination. Boarding is the more practical answer until that clock has run.

Can I Fly With My Bird Instead Of Driving?

On WestJet, yes — it lists birds among the species accepted in the cabin. Not on Air Canada, Porter, Flair or Air Transat, each of which limits pet carriage to cats and dogs. See driving vs flying to the US with your bird for the detail.

Does This Article Apply To Countries Other Than The US?

Not the light route. Any other destination requires the full Canadian export certificate and stamp, plus whatever that country’s own import rules require.

My Bird Is A Species I Think Is CITES-Listed. Does Any Of The “Lighter” Route Apply?

The animal-health route described here doesn’t decide CITES status one way or the other — that’s a separate permitting system. Worth checking: your species’ CITES status and whether an export/import permit is required for your trip — we could not confirm this from an official source. Ask Environment and Climate Change Canada (1-855-869-8670 or cites@ec.gc.ca) before you rely on it.

Will Boarding My Bird Before A US Trip Interfere With The 90-Day Statement?

Possibly — this is the one open question in this article we’re not going to resolve for you, since we’d be guessing in our own favour. Confirm it with CFIA and APHIS before you plan around it.

Is A Short Weekend Trip Ever Worth Taking My Bird On?

Often not. For a trip that short, the disruption of travel can outweigh the disruption of a familiar boarding routine, especially for an older or less healthy bird.

If your bird needs somewhere stable to stay while you travel — or while a permit or a longer relocation sorts itself out — get a boarding quote.

Every number below was checked against the agency’s own website on 27 July 2026. Government phone numbers and web pages still change without notice. If one does not connect, find the agency through its own official site rather than trusting what is printed here.

• Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) — import and export of live birds, health certificates, permits: 1-800-442-2342 from Canada and the US, or 1-613-773-2342 local and international, 8 am to 7 pm EST Monday to Friday except holidays. CFIA names services related to travelling with pets as something its area offices handle — for the GTA that is the Mississauga animal health office, 289-247-4100, 8 am to 4 pm
  · inspection.canada.ca
• Environment and Climate Change Canada — CITES permitting — export and import permits for CITES-listed species, and what documents exist for repeat crossings:
  1-855-869-8670
  · cites@ec.gc.ca
• Canada Border Services Agency — what happens at the border itself, declarations and inspection fees: 1-800-461-9999, Monday to Friday 8 am to 4 pm local time. Press 0 to reach an agent; CBSA’s published service standard is to answer within 20 minutes
• USDA APHIS — the US pet-travel hub, with separate paths for import, export and interstate movement, and the list of which birds count as pets at all:
  aphis.usda.gov/pet-travel
• US Fish & Wildlife Service — CITES and Wild Bird Conservation Act permits, applied for through the ePermits portal at fws.gov/permits. The agency contact centre is 1-800-344-9453
  · info@fws.gov

There are two things we can do. If your bird cannot travel with you — because the paperwork is still in progress, the airline will not carry it, or the timing simply does not work — we can board your bird in the GTA for as long as you need, including by the month. And if it becomes clear the bird genuinely cannot come with you, we can help you rehome it to a good home rather than leaving you to sort that out alone.

We publish this guide because our boarding clients ask us about it constantly, and because the answer is genuinely hard to assemble from the primary sources.