Hawaii runs two totally different quarantine tracks: 120 days if you show up unprepared, or as few as 5 days if the pre-shipment blood test and paperwork are done correctly ahead of time. Luna disapproves of taxiing, but she'd really disapprove of 115 extra days of quarantine lost to one missed test.

Bringing a pet to Hawaii requires three documents in the right order: a microchip, a rabies vaccine within the destination's wait window, and a government-endorsed health certificate. The table below lays out exactly what's required, what's not, and where each rule comes from.

Who sets the rules here

Hawaii applies the rules of the United States as its baseline, and adds requirements of its own on top.

Official source
dab.hawaii.gov
Relationship to the United States
inherits, plus local rules

How Hawaii handles your pet

Key points

  • Hawaii is the only rabies-free state, and it runs its own quarantine programme under Hawaii Administrative Rules Title 4 Chapter 29 — state law, which APHIS pages do not speak for
  • If you are flying in from outside the United States you must clear two sets of rules rather than one: the federal CDC requirements for bringing a dog into the US, and Hawaii's own
  • HDOA is explicit that a dog which does not qualify for entry to the US is sent back to the originating country regardless of whether it meets Hawaii's requirements, so neither set can be skipped
  • Two things decide how long your pet is held: whether the paperwork is complete, and when the Animal Quarantine Station receives it
  • A pet that meets every pre-arrival requirement is released at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport after inspection (Direct Airport Release); a pet that meets them but whose documents arrive late, or that lands outside the airport inspection window of 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (every day, including weekends and holidays), goes into the 5 Day Or Less programme; a pet that misses any requirement is quarantined for up to 120 days
  • Order matters more here than the dates do
  • The microchip must be implanted before the FAVN rabies-antibody blood sample is drawn, because the laboratory will not run the test unless the chip number is on the submission form and the result has to carry it
  • Your pet needs two rabies vaccinations in its lifetime, given more than 30 days apart, with the most recent one more than 30 days before arrival and still inside the booster interval printed on the vaccine label
  • Hawaii sets no minimum age for the first rabies vaccination and no fixed booster interval: the rule defers to the manufacturer's specifications on the product label or package insert, so there is no single number we can publish for either
  • Rabies vaccination itself is only required for a dog or cat that is 90 days of age or older on the day it arrives
  • Hawaii also requires vaccinations most destinations do not ask for at the border, given no less than 10 days before arrival and within the label's booster interval
  • Dogs need canine distemper, infectious hepatitis or adenovirus-2, parvovirus, parainfluenza and Bordetella bronchiseptica (kennel cough)
  • Cats need feline panleukopenia, feline viral rhinotracheitis (feline herpesvirus-1), calicivirus and Chlamydia psittaci (pneumonitis) — that last one has no field of its own on this plan, so ask your vet for it by name
  • One rule catches breeders out: a dog or cat more than 45 days into pregnancy is not accepted at the quarantine station at all, and must be boarded at an approved veterinary hospital instead, at the owner's expense
  • How you send the paperwork matters as much as what is in it
  • Apply through the Hawai'i Pet Owner Portal or by post; HDOA does not accept applications by email and does not open email attachments, and an application for a service or guide dog must be mailed or faxed
  • The Station does not pre-review documents and does not confirm that your mail arrived, so use return receipt or a tracked overnight carrier and send it early enough that a problem can still be fixed before you fly
  • If a question is urgent, call (808) 483-7151 rather than emailing

Each fact comes straight from the operator’s published policy. Tap the to read the exact wording; the opens the source page.

Health & documents

Microchip · Required Yesverified 2026-10-01
Microchip · Must be done before vaccination Noverified 2026-10-01
Quarantine · TypeAnimal Quarantine Stationverified 2026-10-01
Quarantine · Required Yesverified 2026-10-01
Quarantine · Reducible Yesverified 2026-10-01
Quarantine · Duration120 daysverified 2026-08-25
Quarantine · Estimated cost1080verified 2026-10-01
Quarantine · Reduced duration5 daysverified 2026-08-26
Quarantine · Approved facility required Yesverified 2026-10-01
Rabies titer test (FAVN) · Required Yesverified 2026-08-31
Rabies titer test (FAVN) · Approved labs listKansas State UniversityAuburn UniversityUniversity of MissouriDOD Laboratoryverified 2026-10-01
Rabies titer test (FAVN) · Minimum level iu ml0.5verified 2026-10-01
Rabies titer test (FAVN) · Test validity months36 monthsverified 2026-08-24
Rabies titer test (FAVN) · Approved laboratory required Yesverified 2026-08-16
Rabies titer test (FAVN) · Waiting period after test days30 daysverified 2026-10-01
Import permit · Required Yesverified 2026-10-26
Tick treatment · Required Yesverified 2026-10-01
Tick treatment · Timing notesWithin 14 days prior to arrival; the product name and date of treatment must be recorded on the health certificateverified 2026-08-16
Tick treatment · Drug acceptedfipronil or other tick control product with similar residual activityverified 2026-10-01
Health certificate · Issueran accredited veterinarianverified 2026-08-26
Health certificate · Required Yesverified 2026-10-01
Health certificate · Validity days14 daysverified 2026-08-31
Health certificate · Original required Yesverified 2026-10-01
Health certificate · Government endorsed Noverified 2026-10-01
Other vaccinations · Distemper Yesverified 2026-10-01
Other vaccinations · Adenovirus Yesverified 2026-10-01
Other vaccinations · Bordetella Yesverified 2026-10-01
Other vaccinations · Parvovirus Yesverified 2026-10-01
Other vaccinations · Parainfluenza Yesverified 2026-10-01
Rabies vaccination · Required Yesverified 2026-10-01
Rabies vaccination · Booster required Yesverified 2026-08-31
Rabies vaccination · Waiting period after vaccination30 daysverified 2026-08-25
Tapeworm treatment · Required Noverified 2026-10-01
Internal parasite treatment · Required Noverified 2026-10-01

Other rules

Pets accepted Acceptedverified 2026-08-16
Carrier required Yesverified 2026-10-01

Service & assistance animals

Recognized Yesverified 2026-10-01
Advance notice hours24 hoursverified 2026-08-16
Quarantine exemption Yesverified 2026-10-01
Import rules modified Yesverified 2026-10-01
Documentation required Yesverified 2026-10-01

Timing chain

Day -90 microchip implant · Day -30 rabies vaccine deadline · Day -14 health certificate issued · Day 0 arrive at customs

Conditional requirements

These rules apply only to some travellers — where the pet is departing from, where it has been, or who is travelling with it. Most people can ignore them, but if one applies to you it can change what you need, or mean denied entry if you skip it.

Pet arriving in Hawaii from an exempt area (HAR §4-29-10: British Isles — Great Britain, Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey — plus Guam, Australia, New Zealand)

  • Quarantine: HAR §4-29-10 designates the British Isles, Guam, Australia and New Zealand as exempt areas: a dog or cat coming from one of them is exempt from Hawaii's rabies quarantine altogether — no 120-day stay, no 5 Day Or Less programme, no FAVN blood test and no 30-day waiting period. What it needs instead, from HDOA's own "Checklist for Pets Arriving from British Isles, Australia, Guam and New Zealand": (1) the pet must fly on ONE aircraft from the port of origin to Honolulu, with any transfer supervised and certified in writing by the officer in charge; (2) an original official health certificate issued within 14 days of transport by a veterinarian who holds an appointment as an officer of the government of the country of origin — note that is a GOVERNMENT vet, stricter than the accredited vet Hawaii accepts from elsewhere; (3) an affidavit from the owner that the pet was not outside the country of origin for the six months before shipment; (4) an affidavit from the aircraft captain that the pet travelled on one aircraft and was not off-loaded; (5) a container sealed with an official government seal; and (6) a fee of $45.00 plus $14.30 for each additional day until release, instead of the $185-$1,080 range other origins pay. From Guam you also need the signed Guam Affidavit for Export, form IC-5. Every animal is still inspected for external parasites on arrival, and any sign of transmissible disease in the shipment sends the whole shipment to the quarantine station. Hawaii publishes no further breakdown of which jurisdictions "the British Isles" covers beyond that phrase, so this plan applies the exemption to the United Kingdom; if you are travelling from Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands, confirm your status with the Animal Quarantine Station (rabiesfree@hawaii.gov) before relying on it. Hawaii's general pre-shipment rules in HAR §4-29-8 — rabies vaccination, the tick treatment and the other dog or cat vaccinations — are shown unchanged here because §4-29-10 exempts these origins from QUARANTINE and does not say it displaces them. Which jurisdictions count as "the British Isles": HAR §4-29-10(a) names the term but §4-29-2 never defines it. We asked the Animal Quarantine Station directly, and on 2026-10-09 they answered: I reached out to my program manager who stated, "Yes, the British Isles includes Great Britain, Republic of Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands (Jersey and Guernsey)." On that basis the exemption is applied to Great Britain, the Republic of Ireland, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey. Caveat on the strength of this: the AQS officer relayed her program manager's wording by email and did not produce a written Board determination or a published list, which we had asked for. Confirm with the Animal Quarantine Station before relying on it, because this exemption waives both the quarantine and the FAVN blood test.
  • Rabies titer (blood) test: No FAVN / OIE-RVA rabies antibody test is required for a pet arriving from an exempt area. The FAVN test exists in HAR §4-29-8.1 to qualify a pet for five-day-or-less quarantine; a pet exempt from quarantine under §4-29-10 has nothing to qualify for, and HDOA's exempt-area checklist does not list it. Read the quarantine note on this plan for the documents that replace it.
  • Quarantine: HAR §4-29-10 designates the British Isles, Guam, Australia and New Zealand as exempt areas: a dog or cat coming from one of them is exempt from Hawaii's rabies quarantine altogether — no 120-day stay, no 5 Day Or Less programme, no FAVN blood test and no 30-day waiting period. What it needs instead, from HDOA's own "Checklist for Pets Arriving from British Isles, Australia, Guam and New Zealand": (1) the pet must fly on ONE aircraft from the port of origin to Honolulu, with any transfer supervised and certified in writing by the officer in charge; (2) an original official health certificate issued within 14 days of transport by a veterinarian who holds an appointment as an officer of the government of the country of origin — note that is a GOVERNMENT vet, stricter than the accredited vet Hawaii accepts from elsewhere; (3) an affidavit from the owner that the pet was not outside the country of origin for the six months before shipment; (4) an affidavit from the aircraft captain that the pet travelled on one aircraft and was not off-loaded; (5) a container sealed with an official government seal; and (6) a fee of $45.00 plus $14.30 for each additional day until release, instead of the $185-$1,080 range other origins pay. From Guam you also need the signed Guam Affidavit for Export, form IC-5. Every animal is still inspected for external parasites on arrival, and any sign of transmissible disease in the shipment sends the whole shipment to the quarantine station. Hawaii publishes no further breakdown of which jurisdictions "the British Isles" covers beyond that phrase, so this plan applies the exemption to the United Kingdom; if you are travelling from Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands, confirm your status with the Animal Quarantine Station (rabiesfree@hawaii.gov) before relying on it. Hawaii's general pre-shipment rules in HAR §4-29-8 — rabies vaccination, the tick treatment and the other dog or cat vaccinations — are shown unchanged here because §4-29-10 exempts these origins from QUARANTINE and does not say it displaces them.

Breed restrictions

Banned breeds: wolf, wolf cross, Dingo, Bengal, Savannah verified 2026-08-16

Ports of entry

  • Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL), Honolulu, Oahu

verified 2026-10-01

Hawaii does not require the microchip to precede the rabies vaccination the way many countries do; instead, the owner's responsibility is to have the microchip implanted before submitting the pre-shipment OIE-RVA test. That's a genuinely different sequencing rule than a straightforward vaccine-order requirement most travelers expect. Confirm the chip is in before the OIE-RVA blood test specifically, not necessarily before any vaccination appointment.
Wolves, wolf crosses, Dingoes, Bengals, Savannahs, and other non-domestic hybrids are prohibited from entering Hawaii under the state's own Plant Quarantine law. That prohibition covers hybrid breeds specifically, not standard domestic dogs and cats traveling normally. A hybrid matching any of these categories cannot be imported to Hawaii regardless of any other paperwork in order.
The 120-day quarantine program in Hawaii costs $1,080 per pet, a cost that drops significantly for pets that qualify for the shorter 5-day track instead. That fee covers the facility stay itself, kept separate from the health certificate and other document costs required. Budget for the $1,080 charge unless the pre-shipment steps qualify your pet for the shorter program.
Here's what I keep in three printed copies now: Hawaii's 120-day-versus-5-day quarantine split is the single biggest lever on this whole trip, bigger than any other requirement combined on the list. Get a personalized plan from Pawgo to see exactly which pre-shipment steps earn the shorter quarantine for your pet.
Get YOUR personalized plan for Hawaii →