Flying with a dog or cat from Latin America

From Montevideo, leaving for the United States is simple and leaving for Spain takes three months. Same dog, same day, two continents.

One line decides everything: the titration test

To enter the European Union, a pet from a third country must undergo a rabies antibody titration test — unless its country appears in Annexes I or II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/636.

This is not one more formality. The blood sample must be taken at least thirty days after vaccination, and the certificate cannot be issued until three months later. Being on the list, or not, is the difference between one month of preparation and four.

Three Latin American countries are on it: Argentina, Chile and Mexico. The others are not.

Mexico
Argentina
Chile

And the two classifications do not match

The United States does not reason like the Union. Its CDC list ranks countries by rabies risk, and it does not overlap the European annexes. Uruguay and Paraguay illustrate this best: absent from the CDC list — so a simple US entry — and absent from the European annexes, so three months of waiting for Europe.

Eleven countries, two destinations

The table reads each country through both frameworks at once. "Titration" means three extra months for Europe; "CDC high risk" means a titration test, a six-month minimum age and arrival through an airport with an approved animal care facility for the United States.

Country	To the European Union	To the United States	Guide
Mexico	No titration	Standard regime	—
Brazil	Titration — 3 months	CDC high risk	—
Argentina	No titration	Standard regime	Read
Chile	No titration	Standard regime	Read
Colombia	Titration — 3 months	CDC high risk	Read
Peru	Titration — 3 months	CDC high risk	Read
Ecuador	Titration — 3 months	CDC high risk	Read
Uruguay	Titration — 3 months	Standard regime	Read
Paraguay	Titration — 3 months	Standard regime	Read
Bolivia	Titration — 3 months	CDC high risk	Read
Panama	Titration — 3 months	Standard regime	—

What this changes in practice

Leaving Argentina, Chile or Mexico for Europe: microchip, valid rabies vaccination, health certificate. Allow around a month. Nobody can require a titration test of you on that basis.

Leaving Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil or Panama: add the titration test and its three months. That is the part of the calendar you cannot accelerate, which is why it gets decided first.

Either way, the departure country has its own exit requirements, separate from Europe's entry ones. The eight guides below set them out, each backed by its national authority.

The country guides

Each written from the official source of its national veterinary authority, with the list of pages consulted at the end of the article.

Flying a dog from Colombia to the US: 8 airports onlyColombia is high-risk for dog rabies under CDC rules: a dog vaccinated in Colombia can only enter through 8 airports. Requirements, timeline and official sources.
Bringing a pet into Argentina: what SENASA asks forInternational veterinary certificate, rabies vaccine, import permits: what SENASA really requires — and what it doesn't.
Chile: the microchip became mandatory in July 2026Ten-day certificate, rabies vaccine: since July 27, 2026, the SAG requires a microchip for every dog or cat entering Chile.
Flying to Colombia with a pet: what the ICA requiresHealth certificate, rabies vaccine, minimum age: the real ICA rules for Colombia — and the one requirement travelers assume exists but doesn't.
Peru: the microchip you keep hearing about isn't for entryMandatory vaccine from three months old, fixed fees in soles, deworming: the real SENASA rules for entry — the microchip everyone mentions is about leaving.
Ecuador: this time, the microchip is mandatoryThirty-day certificate, full vaccination list, mandatory microchip: what Agrocalidad actually requires — the opposite of neighboring Colombia.
Uruguay: the test they ask for isn't for rabiesTen-day certificate, mandatory microchip for dogs since 2018, praziquantel deworming: the real MGAP rules for entry.
Paraguay: one rule shared by four countries since 2024CVI, rabies vaccine, microchip, up to five pets per traveler: what SENACSA requires — and why it's no longer a Paraguay-only rule.
Bolivia: the only country where the permit comes firstPrior zoosanitary import permit, the Gran Paitití system, quarantine only if symptoms appear: what SENASAG actually requires.

Documented routes

481 routes in our catalogue depart from Latin America, with the airlines that accept the animal and each destination's constraints.

The other regimes

United States: the rules state by stateNo federal rule for a domestic flight. Eleven states require nothing.
Overseas France: European Union or third countryFort-de-France and Nouméa look like the same flight. They are not.
Spain: the 29 entry points, and only thoseArriving anywhere else means arriving where no veterinary check exists.
Japan, Australia, Singapore: the long regimesFrom 120 to 210 days. And the clock does not start at vaccination.