Taking your pet to America: one free form for the dog, nothing federal for the cat

Can your dog or cat come to America? Yes, and more easily than the stories from before 2024 suggest. For a dog that has been only in the Netherlands and other low-risk countries in the past six months, one online CDC form is enough: free, valid for six months and still fillable on the day of travel. For a cat the federal government sets no requirement at all, not even proof of rabies vaccination. What it costs is therefore not in the paperwork but in the flight and the vet. The pitfall is on the other side of the ocean: whoever ever wants to return to Europe with the animal must keep following the European rules, and that starts with a rabies vaccination that was in order when leaving the EU.

What does the CDC require for a dog from the Netherlands?

The CDC divides the world into two groups: countries with a high risk of dog rabies, and the rest. What applies to your dog depends on where it has been in the six months before entry. The Netherlands is not on the high-risk list, and the CDC is explicit about it: a country not on that list counts as rabies-free or low-risk. For such a dog four requirements have applied since 1 August 2024:

• the CDC Dog Import Form, completed online by the person bringing the dog in, with a receipt by e-mail that you print or show on your phone;
• the dog is at least six months old at entry;
• the dog has a microchip that can be read with a universal scanner;
• the dog appears healthy on arrival.

The form is free, applies per dog, and the receipt stays valid for six months as long as the dog has not meanwhile been in a high-risk country or another country of departure. With such a dog you may enter through any airport, seaport or land border. If your dog has been in a high-risk country in the past six months (on holiday in Morocco or Turkey, for example), heavier requirements apply and the place of vaccination and the blood test count; then use the CDC's Dog Import Navigator.

And the cat?

For cats the CDC only requires that they appear healthy on arrival; they can be inspected at the border and, with signs of illness, examined by a vet at your expense. Proof of rabies vaccination is not federally required, although the CDC does recommend vaccination. Two exceptions: Hawaii and Guam apply their own quarantine rules, also for cats from the American mainland.

Which rules come on top?

Besides the CDC, the rules of the Department of Agriculture (USDA APHIS) and those of your destination state apply; APHIS itself says the owner is responsible for both. A general health certificate the CDC does not ask for, but some states and airlines do. Pets are dogs, cats, ferrets, rabbits, rodents, hedgehogs, reptiles, amphibians and most birds; chickens, doves, ducks and other poultry species are not, and neither are six or more birds at once.

Item	To the US (dog from the Netherlands)	Back to the EU from the US
Identification	microchip, readable with a universal scanner	microchip, inserted before the rabies vaccination
Rabies	no federal requirement for low-risk countries; recommended	mandatory, vaccinated at at least 12 weeks old, valid from 21 days after the primary vaccination
Blood test (titration)	not needed	not needed: the US is on the EU list of countries without a titration test
Document	CDC Dog Import Form, free, valid 6 months	EU pet passport, or a health certificate valid for 10 days
Minimum age	6 months	12 weeks at vaccination, plus the 21-day wait
Number of animals	one form per dog	at most 5 animals per traveller

What people forget: the return journey

The American rules are light, the European ones are not. Whoever returns with the animal (or takes it along on a family visit) needs a valid rabies vaccination at the EU external border: given when the animal was at least twelve weeks old, after the chip was placed, and valid only from 21 days after the primary vaccination. The United States is on the EU list of countries for which no blood test is needed, so the months-long wait for a titration test is spared you. The EU pet passport remains usable if the vet recorded in it before departure from the EU that the vaccination was in order; otherwise the animal travels on a health certificate from an American vet that is valid for ten days. So keep the passport up to date and have the booster vaccinations in the US given within the validity of the previous one.

Don't let the rabies vaccination lapse because America doesn't ask for it. If the vaccination expires in the US, the European count starts again at the return journey: new vaccination, 21 days' wait. For a dog or cat that has meanwhile been in a high-risk country, a blood test is added on the American side.

Fill in the CDC form in the week before departure, keep the receipt on your phone, and ask your airline and your destination state what else they require. How this step falls in the moving phase next to the household goods and the car is at /amerika.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 4 of 5 of the journey, step 4.3: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to United States or go straight to step 4.3 in the open plan.