Were getting ready to head down mid December for 3-4 weeks and decided to bring our buddies this time. Anyone have any advice or warnings or whatever about bringing them. Some of the info I have seen says you must have all shot records up to date and need a "health certificate" but my vet said I don't really need a health certificate, anyone know? Oh by the way hows the fishin!
I would never take my buddies without proper papers...they may never get back into the states! I was told you need a certificate for interstate or international movement of small aminals from your vet it's good for 30 days....take all records and all rabies and vaccination info and it must be up to date...all the charges are from your vet and there may be charges at the border as well. This paperwork may take awhile to process so don't wait til the last minute. For info call USDA 916-854-3900 Nancy
We visit Mulage or Todos Santos once or twice a year for the past 15 years. We drive from San Diego with our golden retriever and have never had a problem of any kind (he did get car sick once). We don't take papers nor does the dog have a license tag.
Take all their records esp the rabies shots and their rabies tags. Also a supply of dog food as the food in Mexico may be hard to find and/or old. Our dogs have just returned from the MidEast where we have been working; flew air cargo back...now most countries require the chips implants (we have them) but Mexico probably hasnt gotten that far along. We did have trouble last time on return from Mulege with dogs finding hotel that would accept dogs...we had left RV in Mulege. Take your papers...or like previous post, you may not be able to return dogs to States!!
I have lived in Baja for 3.5 years. Most of the numerous Americans I know here have dogs and routinely transport them across the border in Mexicali. No one has ever been asked for documents about the dogs by either the US or Mexican border officials. The whole dog/papers bit is true on paper, but never attended to in actual fact.
I have been asked to show papers by US Customs twice; once in Mexicali and once at Nogales, so it IS occasionally asked for. Both times were within the last five years. The alternative is leaving the animal(s) in quarantine for an unspecified amount of time, far away from your home, possibly.
I just wanted to say thanks to those who gave advise, And I also wanted to pass on some advice we learned. We took our dogs to our vet the day we left Oregon and had their rabies and parvo updated, unfortunatley on of our chihuahua's had an allergic reaction to the parvo vaccination and bled out internally. Had we gotten the shots a few days earlier we may have her back to our vet quick enough so she would have been treatable, from what my vet tells me it is very rare for a dog to have a reaction but it happens. Anyway, moral of the story- Get your dogs vaccinations at least a few days before you leave. It's not a great way to start your trip if one of your friends gets sick. Steve
