CDC Animal Import Restrictions: Dogs, Cats, and Exotic Pets

The CDC’s animal import rules exist to keep rabies and other communicable diseases out of the country, and they fall hardest on dogs: as of August 1, 2024, every dog entering the United States must be at least six months old, microchipped, and accompanied by a CDC Dog Import Form receipt, with substantial extra requirements if the dog has been in any of 113 countries the agency classifies as high-risk for dog rabies.¹ Cats face far lighter federal rules. Turtles under four inches, nonhuman primates as pets, and several African rodent species are banned outright.

Baseline Rules for Every Dog

Four requirements apply to every dog entering the United States, regardless of where it’s coming from:¹

At least six months old on arrival.²
Microchipped with a chip readable by a universal scanner. The chip doesn’t have to meet ISO standards or be a specific brand, but if the number starts with a digit other than 9, confirm with a vet that a universal scanner can read it.
Appears healthy at the border. A sick-looking dog can be pulled for a veterinary exam at the owner’s expense.
Accompanied by a CDC Dog Import Form receipt, printed or on your phone.³

You fill out the CDC Dog Import Form online before travel. It asks for your contact information along with the dog’s breed, color, markings, age, sex, and microchip number. After submitting, you confirm your email and receive a receipt that covers multiple entries from the same country for six months. If you’re flying, airlines will ask to see it before they board the dog.

The microchip must go in before the rabies vaccine for the vaccination to count. If the chip was implanted after vaccination, the CDC treats the vaccination as invalid.⁴

Dogs Coming from Low-Risk or Rabies-Free Countries

If your dog has been only in countries the CDC lists as rabies-free or low-risk for the past six months, the four baseline requirements are all you have to meet. Rabies vaccination is strongly recommended but not required.⁵ The dog can enter through any airport, seaport, or land border crossing.⁶ This is the path most Americans traveling internationally with a pet will use.

Dogs Coming from High-Risk Countries

The CDC’s high-risk list covers 113 countries and territories across most of Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Central and South America.⁵ Any dog that has been in one of these places within the last six months triggers the full set of high-risk requirements. What the requirements look like depends on who gave the dog its rabies shot.

Vaccinated by a U.S. Veterinarian

If a USDA-accredited vet in the United States vaccinated the dog before it left the country, ask them to complete a Certification of U.S.-Issued Rabies Vaccination form before you leave. The form cannot be issued retroactively once the dog is abroad.⁷ The vaccination must still be current on the return date. Rabies vaccines are typically valid for one or three years, and the same certification form can be reused for multiple trips until it expires.

Vaccinated by a Foreign Veterinarian

Foreign-vaccinated dogs face the strictest requirements. A foreign vet must complete a Certification of Foreign Rabies Vaccination and Microchip form, and the dog needs a passing rabies serology (titer) test from a CDC-approved laboratory. The blood draw for the titer must occur at least 30 days after the dog’s first rabies vaccination and at least 28 days before entering the United States.⁸ Those two windows alone mean about two months of minimum lead time, not counting shipping and lab turnaround.

A passing titer is good for the life of the dog as long as rabies coverage never lapses and the lab stays on the CDC’s approved list.⁹ Any gap in vaccination resets everything: new booster, new 30-day wait, new blood draw.

A dog that arrives without a valid titer isn’t necessarily turned away, but it must go into quarantine at a CDC-registered animal care facility for 28 days at the owner’s expense. One facility near Washington Dulles quotes roughly $4,000 for that full quarantine package versus about $970 for a quick-release visit when the titer is already in hand. Prices vary, but several thousand dollars is a realistic figure if quarantine becomes necessary.

Approved Ports of Entry

A foreign-vaccinated dog from a high-risk country can only arrive at one of six U.S. airports, and it must land at the specific airport where its facility reservation is booked:¹⁰

Atlanta (ATL)
Los Angeles (LAX)
Miami (MIA)
New York (JFK; not Newark or LaGuardia)
Philadelphia (PHL)
Washington, DC (IAD)

The reservation has to be made before travel. For LAX, the CDC says shipping the dog as cargo is preferred to avoid clearance delays. Showing up at an airport without a registered facility, or at the wrong one, can result in the dog being sent back at the owner’s expense.

Service Dogs

The CDC uses the Department of Transportation’s definition at 14 CFR 382.3: the dog must be individually trained to perform tasks for a person with a disability. Emotional support animals, comfort animals, and service dogs in training do not qualify.²

A qualifying service dog vaccinated abroad and coming from a low-risk country doesn’t need to visit a CDC-registered facility on arrival. From a high-risk country, the dog still needs a facility reservation if flying, but the facility is supposed to expedite the exam and any revaccination; mention the service dog status when booking. Service dogs can also arrive by seaport without a facility reservation as long as they have a valid titer from a CDC-approved lab and meet the other requirements. These accommodations only apply when the dog is traveling with the person it’s trained to assist.

What Happens at the Border

You’ll show the CDC Dog Import Form receipt to the airline before boarding and to U.S. Customs and Border Protection on arrival. CBP works with the CDC to check paperwork and look the dog over. A healthy dog from a low-risk country is released on the spot. A dog from a high-risk country goes to its reserved animal care facility for exam and, where applicable, revaccination.

If the microchip can’t be read at this stage, the dog can be refused entry and returned to the departure country at the owner’s expense. Any dog that looks sick, from anywhere, can be held for a veterinary exam that the owner pays for.¹¹

Cats

Cats have almost no federal import requirements. The CDC does not require proof of rabies vaccination, though it recommends it, and the cat has to look healthy on arrival.¹² Two catches worth knowing: Hawaii and Guam require quarantine for every cat arriving, including from the U.S. mainland, and many states and localities set their own rabies vaccination rules that go beyond the federal baseline. Check the destination’s rules before you fly.

Turtles, Primates, and African Rodents

Some animals aren’t just regulated; they can’t come in at all under normal circumstances.

Small turtles. Federal law has prohibited the sale and distribution of turtles with shells shorter than four inches as pets since 1975 because of repeated Salmonella outbreaks tied to young children handling them. The prohibition covers importation.¹³

Nonhuman primates. Importing a monkey, ape, or any other nonhuman primate as a pet is illegal, even if you owned the animal before leaving the country. Primates may only enter for scientific research, education, or exhibition, because of disease risks including Ebola, herpes B, and tuberculosis.¹⁴ A primate brought in as a pet will be seized and returned at the owner’s expense.

African rodents and prairie dogs. After a 2003 monkeypox outbreak traced to a shipment from Ghana, the CDC and FDA banned the import and domestic trade of Gambian giant pouched rats, brush-tailed porcupines, dormice, rope squirrels, tree squirrels, striped mice, and prairie dogs. The ban applies to pet owners, dealers, researchers, and zoos alike.¹⁵

Other Federal Agencies You May Have to Satisfy

The CDC covers communicable disease, but it’s not the only agency at the border.

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service handles other animal health issues. A dog from a country with screwworm needs a certificate from a government veterinarian in the country of origin showing inspection within five days of shipment. A dog from a foot-and-mouth-disease country must be bathed on arrival and kept away from livestock for five days. Dogs imported commercially for resale or adoption have added APHIS obligations that pet owners don’t.¹⁶

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requires Form 3-177 (Declaration for Importation or Exportation of Fish or Wildlife) for wildlife imports. Domestic pets like dogs and cats generally aren’t wildlife, but exotic species or anything covered by the Endangered Species Act or CITES will need the form and a USFWS inspection.¹⁷

CBP recommends contacting your intended port of arrival before travel to head off delays.¹¹

What Noncompliance Costs

The consequence most people hit first is money. A dog denied entry gets sent back at the owner’s expense, along with any holding costs while officials sort out the situation. Rebooking cargo and unexpected quarantine can run into the thousands.

Formal penalties escalate from there. Violating federal quarantine rules under the Public Health Service Act carries up to $1,000 in fines, up to one year of imprisonment, or both.¹⁸ CBP can add civil fines under customs statutes that scale by degree of fault (negligence, gross negligence, or fraud), and in serious cases the CDC can refer matters to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution.¹⁹

The problems that most often derail a dog at the border are the same three every time: no valid titer, arrival at an airport without a registered facility, and a microchip a scanner can’t read. All three are preventable with lead time. None are fixable once the plane has landed.

1
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC Updates Dog Importation Regulation
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Frequently Asked Questions on Dog Importations
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC Dog Import Form and Instructions
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Entry Requirements for U.S.-Vaccinated Dogs from High-Risk Countries
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. High-Risk Countries for Dog Rabies
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Entry Requirements for Dogs from Dog-Rabies Free or Low-Risk Countries
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Documents for Veterinarians to Complete for Dogs Being Imported into the United States
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Entry Requirements for Foreign-Vaccinated Dogs from High-Risk Countries
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Approved Rabies Serology Laboratories for Testing Dogs
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC-Registered Animal Care Facilities
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Bringing Pets and Wildlife into the United States
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Bringing an Animal into the U.S.
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U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Salmonella and Turtle Safety
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Bringing a Nonhuman Primate into the U.S.
15
Federal Register. Restrictions on African Rodents, Prairie Dogs, and Certain Other Animals
16
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Bring a Pet Dog into the United States
17
eCFR. 50 CFR Part 14 Subpart F – Wildlife Declarations
18
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 271 – Penalties for Violation of Quarantine Laws
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eCFR. 42 CFR 71.51 – Dogs and Cats