This is so true. It is such a pain to import dogs into another country. We brought our very tall Akita with us. She had to have a large crate that was altered with 3" of wood all the way around in order to accommodate her ears which are tall. They didn't even check it at the airport to make sure there was room. Then she had a connection and we had to pay $75 to have them walk and water her. Well, they didn't do it because she growled at them (she's a total guard dog and no way anyone was getting her out of the crate but us). Then she made it to Panama before us (she had to fly United and we flew Spirit) but didn't have the email we sent telling them she was arriving so thankfully they called us and we were in Florida on our way! The 7 days before were worse since you have to do all the paperwork. Did you find a USDA vet? I called a few and they were asking to charge $300 for their name and filling out two lines on the form. Thankfully we had a vet in our neighborhood who qualified who did it for free!! That is crazy that they have to have special crates. Which airline? We almost had to do cargo but then United finally worked with us. Our dog's ticket was over $500 (it would have been way more with a pet transport company) and our entire family flew here for $700 total (for 7 people). I wanted to bring our cat too, but it wasn't worth it. And then our dog was stuck in immigration overnight as well. She was happy to see us when it was all over!
Yeah, we found a usda vet but its not in our state, so we have to send the paperwork overnight ups within 10 days of flight just for their signiture.. its stupid.. the hoops we are jumping thru are ridiculous! They also are flying united because it is the only airline that accepts bully breeds, but have to have metal cages so the dont chew thru them? I didnt know they charge a fee to walk them, no one has said anything about that to us.. we are gonna fly down a few weeks in advance so since we arent with them customs is a bit different i guess.. we have to hire a customs agent in costa rica now to help with the process cuz of that.. all these rules are just stupid.. and the costs are even more ridiculous... but we have no choice so we are doing what we gotta do.. good to know some of these things tho, so thanks for the heads up.. i might hit u up if i have any questions 😉
Sad thing is you'll have to do this at any country you fly to. It's insane. That's crazy they say they will chew through the plastic. Wow. Yes, we didn't know the $75 long lay over/walking fee until we showed up at the airport. They asked about it in booking and I said no, but the airport said it was required. If there is no long layover, you should be good. Crazy that you have to have a customs person on the CR side. We didn't have to do that - my husband just went the next morning and picked her up since we got in at 2am and they had already closed the kennel area. There was a month's worth of quarantine we had to pay for - one time fee to take her home (or you could pay a daily fee and leave them at the airport). It is all kind of crazy and not a lot of fun.