Cruising the Carribean with a Dog

[Tranquila]

Hi,
I plan to go cruising with my dog this fall for a couple of years in the Caribbean. Does anyone know of a book that includes pet customs and immigration procedures for all of the countries in the Caribbean? I think I saw this included in Hal Roth's book " How to sail around the world" Does anyone have this book and could you check a few of the countries for me?

IF anyone knows of any other book or web site or other source containing this specific information that would be great. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

PS: I plan to skip the British Countries all together as I know they are not pet friendly

Thanks!~

Tranquila

[TaoJones]

Rules / Regs pets cruising?

Did you look through this thread? It's further down in the Cruising With Pets section.

TaoJones

[sluissa]

I read in one book, don't recall the dates they were actually sailing, called "Slow Boat from China". Anyway, they had a dog, and as long as they avoided countries which required long quarantine times for dogs. They simply didn't mention the dog to customs. They didn't make an effort to hide the dog, but they didn't bring it up either and according to them, it was never a problem.

Don't take my word for this though, this is just what I read in a book, your experience may be much different but I can't see the harm in just "forgetting" to mention the dog if the customs guys don't bring it up.

[Tranquila]

Originally Posted by TaoJones

Rules / Regs pets cruising?

Did you look through this thread? It's further down in the Cruising With Pets section.

TaoJones

Yes,
I read through all the comments in the thread. I saw no reference to any books or official documents.

If I missed it, could you let me know what it was.

Thank you for your response

[TaoJones]

No, no books or official documents, but if you click on the link below (from the post of Doghouse in that thread) there is quite a bit of info:

DogFriendly.com(TM) - Pet Travel Guides and City Guides for Dog/Pet Owners

TaoJones

[Intentional Drifter]

You might also want to check out: Dogs Boating, Sailing

I attended one of her seminars at a boat show -- very informative and encouraging.

Also, these folks have quite a bit of good information, too: SailCharbonneau.com - Sailing with Pets

ID

[cnj]

http://www.noonsite.com/Countries

Go to the Custom section and it will give details on animals and what's required.

[seafox]

Imagine the dog registration fees on a world cruise. That would definitely blow the budget

[Tranquila]

Originally Posted by cnj

http://www.noonsite.com/Countries

Go to the Custom section and it will give details on animals and what's required.

Excellent! THank you very much!

Tranquila

[TaoJones]

Tranquila, I should have added the following to my post above:

Go to: DogFriendly.com(TM) - Pet Travel Guides and City Guides for Dog/Pet Owners

Then scroll down to the section headlined, More Dog Travel Info, and click on: Customs/Quarantine

TaoJones

[jaydh]

Tranquila,


There used to be a neat woman in the BVI, near/in Roadtown, that helped me get papers for my dog at the time. She's a little fire-ball, blonde and white. I want to say she's Euro, but can't recall for sure. She ran a humane society type thing when I was there. I think she raced horses too at their local track. First name is Tessa.

Someone told me about her...I rang her up...and she called the local gov't vet for me. I don't even remember the vet looking a my rat terrier. She did though and passed the info onto the guy. Maybe $50usd later I could take her on shore without worry and even had paperwork to fly the dog back into the states.

She did want to see the dog's shot paperwork.

I recall giving her something too as a donation for their shelter.

Hope this might help so you can see the BVI. If you want to find out if she's still there, and can't find anything online, PM me and I'll ask a couple friends to check into it for you.

best- J

[Dexter&Shrimpy]

Hi there. A great book I found is Doggy on Deck. It lists country specific information www.doggyondeck.com

[Gigi]

I have recently been through the Caribbean with my pug dog and he had a blast! Unfortunately there is very little factual information out there concerning customs regulations. Noonsite info pertaining to Pets, in almost all cases, is outdated and incorrect. The rules in most countries have changed recently and websites devoted to pet travel have not updated their info. SailCharbonneau.com is a great site but the pet info is very outdated. The only safe way to enjoy your dog in the Carib is to call or email every country you want to go to and speak with the agriculture department (this will require a lot of leg work on the internet to find the emails/numbers). You can get the permit and requirements emailed to you. And yes you can very easily take your pet into the British islands as long as you do titer testing (which takes at least 2 months) and follow the guidelines that you can get from the BVI department of Agriculture. If you love your pet and are unwilling to risk quarantine or, at worst, euthanasia - follow the rules.

I would be happy to give you any detailed info relating to my experience. It really is worth it to do all the leg work before leaving the states. And no matter what you do you will need an international health certificate certified by your states department of agriculture (your local vet should know how to do this).

Good Luck

Leta McKinley
S/V Gigi
www.sailgigi.com

[Kamaloha]

As Gigi pointed out, the rules are constantly evolving. Luckily, most countries are relaxing their "no dogs allowed" stance in favor of rabies titers and vaccines. It can take anywhere from 2-8 months to go through the proper procedure, so get started early on the rabies titer. Google Kansas State rabies lab for the proper procedure. You need to have your pet microchipped and vaccinated for rabies, then draw blood titers 30 days later. The results will be available about 3 weeks after that. However, some countries require 6 months to pass from a positive titer to make sure your pet wasn't harboring the disease despite a successful vaccination.

I googled each island's customs sights for current requirements, but plan to follow up with phone calls to the ag departments to be safe.

The harm in "forgetting" to mention that you have a live animal aboard is that you are breaking the law. The penalty can be heavy fines or destroying the animal. No matter how many people overlook the laws and get away with it, I would never risk my pet's life.

[Mustang Sally]

It's a pain in the butt, we know with 2 small dogs and having been to every island in the last 3 years. Titer test is a must but you must also have a current health certificate that is no older then 14 days for the British Islands. Many cruisers do not state they have a pet aboard when they check in with customs/immigration and if you get caught your in big trouble. We know of 2 dogs that were shot when brought to shore because they were not declared. The French islands are the most relaxed and the British the worst when it comes to dogs. Also many locals do not like dogs and honestly we feel the caribbean is not dog friendly.