Planning on traveling with your dog from Mexico to the United States? You aren’t alone. About 1 million dogs enter the United States from other countries every year.
If you are crossing the US border into Mexico with a dog — whether the dog is from Mexico or originally from the U.S. — you should be aware of the new dog import requirements established this week by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC says the new rules are to protect the health and safety of people and animals, and prevent the reintroduction of dog rabies to the United States.
The rabies virus — fatal to humans and animals — is very rare in the U.S., where canine rabies was eliminated in 2007.
The stricter rules have come about in response to an increasing number of incomplete or fraudulent rabies vaccination certificates. The CDC raised alarms after four rabid dogs were found to have entered the U.S. since 2015. And last year, Mexican public health authorities issued their own rabies alert, warning of an increase in human rabies cases.
What are the new CDC requirements for dogs entering the U.S.?
The new dog import rules require all dogs entering the United States to be at least six months old (at six months, puppies are old enough to receive vaccinations). All dogs must also have a microchip placed under their skin with a code that verifies rabies vaccination, plus a valid rabies vaccination certificate. A new electronic CDC import form must be filled out, too.
When do the requirements take effect?
The new rules become effective on Aug. 1. If you don’t follow the CDC rules, your dog won’t be allowed to enter the United States and, if you arrive by air, your dog will be sent back to the last country of departure at your expense.
What is different from previous requirements?
The CDC does not consider Mexico a high-risk country for rabies and the last verified dog-to-human transfer took place in 2006, so there has been little regulation regarding importing dogs from Mexico to the United States in recent years. Proof of rabies vaccination was occasionally required for air travel or when entering certain U.S. states by car.
What are vets and pet owners saying?
The newspaper The San Diego Reader reported that the CDC did not directly notify veterinarians in the U.S. of the pending rules change, although the CDC’s rule-making process was public and a draft version of the updated regulations was available last year. So, those caught off guard see the new regulations as staggering.
Veterinary Practice News published a report on May 13 that linked to the new CDC rules, but one San Diego vet interviewed by the Reader thought frustrations will grow since glitches are evident and the rule change takes effect in just two months. The CDC’s electronic form won’t be available until July 15, and the recommended timeline suggests beginning the form 2-10 days before crossing the US border with your dog, leaving a narrow window for border-crossers who may not be familiar with the new process. Meeting other pet-importation requirements may take up to 60 days, according to the guidelines. A full list of requirements is available on the CDC website, along with a clunky but useful “DogBot” that can tell you which instructions apply in your case based on a brief questionnaire.
Rescue operations, which abound on both sides of the border, are also bracing for the additional administrative hurdle. One animal rescue employee said that while a rule change was necessary (existing regulations were last updated in 1956), the changes are “overreaching, unnecessary (punitive even), and will place a sizable burden on our small organizations.”
With reports from NBC News, CNN and The San Diego Reader
Rabies has not been eradicated in the US so either you are terribly misinformed or are just a poor writer.
This statement is from the CDC website:
The United States eliminated dog rabies in 2007, but dog rabies is not controlled in over 100 countries—creating a risk to the United States in imported dogs.
The original writer was not misinformed.
I cross to USA every day with my dog. I wonder if i will have to fill out the form 10 days in advance, every day.
I cross 4-5 days a week with my dog. This is nuts for people like me.
Thank you so much for this article. It was always a hassle when Mexico would change rules literally as we would fly in with our dog. This gives us time to prepare for the new US rules.
Actually, the advance notice is useful. However, the form that will be required beginning on August 1, 2024 is not (according to the CDC website) expected to be available until July 15, 2024. So if you are traveling right after August 1, the advance notice is not much good since you can’t get the document you need until a very short time before your trip. In addition, our USDA-certified veterinarian in the US has not been notified in any way of these new requirements.
We are currently in Mexico, obviously did not get this document before we left the US in August 2023 because these new requirements were not on anybody’s radar at that time, and are going back to the US in early August – it is not clear how we are supposed to comply with these rules. We will continue trying to research what needs to be done.
We have been planning to buy a standard poodle puppy this fall. If I understand this, it means that I would not be able to return to the states until the puppy was 6+ months old.
Do these new rules also apply to cats, or is it only to dogs?