dog questions

My dog accompanies me several times a year between Vancouver and Zihuatanejo. Neither Air Canada nor WestJet will take him in the hold during the season, so we come via Mexico City. Incoming SARGAPA always requires seeing my statement of health and the vaccination records. Sometimes they do a physical examination for fleas and ticks.

When I arrive in Canada, they want to see the certificate/letter of health. I always have the vaccination record so I show that too. They have never done a physical examination. Canada has a fee, I think $30-$50, that is discretionary.

As important as the country’s requirement is the airline’s requirements. AeroMexico requires documentation of rabies vaccination with the previous year, so although my veterinarian in Canada says my guy is good for three years, I have to have him vaccinated every year to satisfy AM.

You might want to consider giving your dog something like Nexgard Spectra for protection from diseases transmitted by fleas, ticks, and mosquitos. My dog adopted me in Mexico and had heart worm infection, transmitted by mosquitos. You do not want to go through, or put your dog through, the curative process for mosquito-transmitted heartworm.

If you bring your dog again, pay attention to the method of dating the veterinarian’s letter in Canada. One time around October 12, we almost missed a flight because of the date format. The document was dated 09-10-2024, i.e., 9-October-2024. The AM counter agent insisted that meant September 10, 2024, so the document was out of date.

Most of the world (including Mexico) uses dd-mm-yyyy or yyyy-mm-dd. The US uses mm-dd-yyyy. I wondered whether the agent had grown up in the US.