The National Service of Health, Safety and Quality of Agricultural Products of Mexico (SENASICA) has made changes to the procedure for processing pets when importing them from the United States and Canada. Now, when importing dogs and cats from these countries into Mexico by private individuals, they no longer need to provide an export veterinary health certificate, proof of comprehensive annual vaccination and treatment for worms and external parasites.
Instead of these documents, when entering Mexico, you should simply provide the animal to a SENASICA employee for inspection. You are obliged to take care yourself that the animal is healthy, or provide a document about the treatment process, otherwise all further examinations or quarantine of the animal will be carried out at your expense.
If the animal has visible disease, wounds or lesions, a letter from a licensed veterinarian (USDA APHIS or Canadian CFIA accredited) with the veterinarian's full details, license number, diagnosis and treatment plan is required.
The same applies to an animal that has traces of skin lesions and/or infections such as scabies, ringworm, dermatophilosis, alopecia or similar.
If external parasites are found during the inspection, they will be collected and sent to a laboratory for analysis at your expense. During this time, your animal will be quarantined at your expense.
If the animal's condition raises obvious doubts about its health, further veterinary examinations and quarantine of the animal will be carried out by SENASICA staff at your expense. In some cases, it is possible to make a decision not to allow the animal into Mexico.
During the inspection of animals transported in transport containers, all disposable accessories (bedding, rags, fillers) can be removed and destroyed, and the container itself — disinfected.
More information — on the websiteSENASICA(in Spanish).
These changes apply exclusively to dogs and cats originating in the USA and Canada. If you are traveling to Mexico in transit through the United States and Canada, the rules for importing pets remainthe same.
These changes were adopted on March 13, 2019, but published on October 17, 2019. If you are traveling to Mexico via the land border, the new rules are already in effect. However, not all airlines have yet made changes to their rules for transporting animals. In addition, airlines have the right to impose their own, more stringent standards for the transportation of animals.