What procedure must be carried out to travel with our pets outside of Ecuador?

Without a doubt, pets have an important place in our families. They share our lives, our homes, our tastes and even our vacation trips. However, being able to leave the country with them might not be as easy as it sounds due to the requirements that must be met previously.

These requirements vary depending on the type of pet, whether it’s a dog or cat, and the region of the world you want to visit. Gabriel Carrión, owner of Lord Guau, a company that is in charge of transporting pets, told El Telégrafo that depending on the country, the procedures could take from 24 hours to nine months.

For example, to visit Latin American countries, such as Colombia, the requirements are minimal. There, a health certificate, the complete vaccination card, internal and external deworming, and an export animal health document issued by the control body (Agrocalidad) are requested.

These same requirements are requested by countries in our region such as Peru, Argentina, and Uruguay. While in countries like Panama, Mexico and Venezuela, these demands are added to the fact that the documents are sealed in the Foreign Ministry of Ecuador. The cost for this procedure is USD 160.

With regard to the United States, until January 2023, there is a strict regulation so that dogs no older than six months do not enter, they must have a rabies antibody titer, send a permit to the disease diagnosis center with photos of the teeth of the dog This due to a ban to 130 countries for possible rabies. However, this restriction does not affect the entry of cats to US soil.

Now if what you want is to travel to European territory, Carrión explains that a rabies antibody titration test, micro identification chip, European forms, among others, are requested. Therefore, the recommendation is to seek advice and request that a specialized company carry out these procedures in which the cost reaches USD 590.

This is because blood tests are only endorsed by laboratories approved by the European Union which are in the United States, Mexico or Chile. In this case, the procedure lasts up to three months because the European regulation requires that the taking of tests be carried out up to three months before the trip. In addition, it is important to take into account the date of the last rabies vaccination so that they do not give false positives.

Australia is the country with the highest number of obstacles for pets from Ecuador to enter its territory by not considering our country as a point of origin. This means that if you want to travel with a dog or cat to this part of the world, you must first go to one of the countries approved by the Australian authorities where the animal will undergo two to three rabies antibody titer tests. .

Once the pet has entered Australia, it will have to go through a period of quarantine. Carrión assured that to enter that country the process could take up to nine months and have an approximate cost of up to USD 8,000.

It is worth mentioning that these documents have a duration of 30 days, that is, if your intention is to travel and then return to Ecuador, you can do it without problem in that period of time. If your stay outside Ecuadorian territory passes that time, to return to the country you must present the health certificate and the vaccination card.