Canada to Argentina
Pet Shipping from Canada to Argentina
We provide international pet transport from Canada to Argentina, planned around its import rules, the Canadian winter and your move date.
Book door-to-door pet relocation, or only the parts you need.
- Airline booking
- The travel crate
- The CFIA export paperwork
- Check-in at your Canadian airport
- Pickup in Argentina with delivery to your new address
Argentina at a glance
Full requirementsSENASA gives a pet’s certificate 60 calendar days from issue to be used for entry into Argentina, provided the rabies vaccination is still current on the day it enters, and SENASA staff then check the documents, the animal and its identity.
- Rabies dose
- Needed once an animal passes 3 months, and it has to be in date on the day you land. A first ever dose has to be given at least 21 days ahead of entry
- Antibody titre test
- Not asked for
- Deworming and external treatment
- Given inside the 15 days that end when the certificate is signed, covering internal and external parasites
- Health examination
- A veterinarian examines the animal within the 10 days before the certificate is issued and certifies it clinically healthy and fit to travel
- Certificate used
- Argentina has no CFIA negotiated certificate. The Canadian International Health Certificate serves only where the CFIA’s conditions for it hold, so the CFIA animal health office confirms the form. Completed by a veterinarian licensed in Canada
Pet Shipping from Canada to Argentina
Moving a pet from Canada to Argentina is about sequencing, not waiting. The rabies dose has to be in date on the day you land, and a first ever dose has to sit at least 21 days back from entry. Deworming belongs inside the 15 days before the certificate is signed. The certificate then expires 60 calendar days after issue, and the CFIA endorsement appointment has to happen inside that window and before departure.
Cabin, Hold or Cargo: Why It Changes the File
Two quite different procedures sit behind the words “bringing your pet to Argentina”, and which one you are in is decided by how the animal flies rather than by anything you fill in beforehand.
If your pet travels in the hold as cargo, somebody has to tell the border post it is coming. SENASA puts that duty on the transport agent or whoever is responsible for the shipment, and the entry permit fee becomes payable. The notice has to reach the SENASA border post at least 24 business hours before the pet does, according to the SENASA FAQ on pets entering Argentina (read 29 October 2026). This is the branch most brokered moves out of Canada sit in, and it is the one we handle for you.
If your pet travels with you as accompanied baggage, SENASA is unusually clear that you do nothing in advance: no import application, no notice to the border post, no entry permit, and no charge for the verification when you land. Read that sentence twice if you have been quoted for permit paperwork on this route, then ask what it was for.
Route details: Canada to Argentina
- Route
- Canada to Argentina
- How the pet flies
- With the owner on the same flight, in the cabin or hold, as accompanied baggage; or without the owner as cargo, per SENASA
- Advance notice
- Cargo: the agent notifies the SENASA border post at least 24 business hours ahead. SENASA asks no advance filing for accompanied pets
- Health certificate
- Vet exam within 10 days and parasite treatment within 15 days before issue; Spanish included; CFIA endorses before departure; valid 60 days
- Quarantine on arrival
- SENASA checks the documents, the animal and its identity at the border post; SENASA’s pet entry rules list no quarantine
- Time to get ready
- At least 21 days: SENASA wants a first rabies vaccine given at least 21 days before entry into Argentina
From official sources, read 29 October 2026: SENASA, Ingresos con perros y/o gatos; SENASA, Preguntas frecuentes: ingreso de perros y gatos a la República Argentina; CFIA, Pets: Export certificates; CFIA, Book an appointment for CFIA pet export certification endorsement; MERCOSUR/GMC/RES. No. 17/15, Animal health requirements of Member States for the entry of domestic dogs and cats.
What SENASA Does When You Land
Which Animals Canada Can Send
The rules SENASA publishes for dogs and cats, read 29 October 2026, name no quarantine on this route. What they describe instead is a short piece of work at the border post: an officer reads your paperwork, looks at your animal, and satisfies himself that the two describe each other.
That third step is the one Canadians underestimate. The certificate has to identify your pet closely enough that a stranger can match description to animal on sight, so the identifying detail matters more here than the volume of documentation. We write the file with that inspection in mind rather than to fill a folder.
Paperwork in the wrong language can also keep a pet at the border. Where a certificate carries no Spanish, the SENASA FAQ says it must be translated on arrival by a sworn public translator in Argentina, and the animal is not released before then.
Nothing is booked until we have read your pet’s case against SENASA guidance and the CFIA export process, so the plan rests on the current rules rather than on a summary someone wrote a year ago.
Health Preparation and Documentation
This is a short list of conditions and a demanding calendar. Deworming, inside and out, belongs in the 15 days that end when the certificate is signed. That certificate then runs for 60 calendar days, and the rabies dose has to be in date on the day you land.
The Canadian side is the part to plan around. Argentina is not one of the countries the CFIA has negotiated a specific certificate for. The CFIA’s export certificate page (read 29 October 2026) says the Canadian International Health Certificate can be used where the destination has no prescribed format and its import requirements can be met, and the certificate’s own page (read 29 October 2026) says it should not be used where a country has provided its own. SENASA publishes a model certificate in Spanish and English (read 29 October 2026), which it calls a guide, and requires Spanish among the certificate’s languages; of the CFIA’s two versions, only the trilingual one includes Spanish. The CFIA asks anyone unsure whether its certificate can be used to contact the CFIA animal health office in their area before starting, and where a certificate has to be negotiated instead, it says that can take several months. Whichever form applies, a veterinarian licensed in Canada completes it and an official CFIA veterinarian endorses it. That endorsement is by appointment only, walk-ins are refused, the fee is calculated by a CFIA officer and paid online at least three days ahead, and it is non-refundable. It cannot happen once your pet has left the country.
| What Argentina checks | Argentina, from Canada |
|---|---|
| Rabies dose | Needed once an animal passes 3 months, and it has to be in date on the day you land. A first ever dose has to be given at least 21 days ahead of entry |
| Antibody titre test | Not asked for |
| Deworming and external treatment | Given inside the 15 days that end when the certificate is signed, covering internal and external parasites |
| Health examination | A veterinarian examines the animal within the 10 days before the certificate is issued and certifies it clinically healthy and fit to travel |
| Certificate used | Argentina has no CFIA negotiated certificate. The Canadian International Health Certificate serves only where the CFIA’s conditions for it hold, so the CFIA animal health office confirms the form. Completed by a veterinarian licensed in Canada |
| CFIA endorsement | By appointment only, walk-ins refused. Fee calculated by a CFIA officer, paid online at least 3 days ahead, non-refundable. It cannot happen once your pet has left Canada |
| How long the certificate lasts | 60 calendar days from the day it is issued, with the rabies dose still in date when you arrive |
| Identification chip | SENASA’s published entry rules do not call for one. The officer matches the animal to the certificate instead, so the description written there has to be right |
| Animals under 3 months old | A veterinary authority has to certify the age, and that the premises the animal came from had no urban rabies cases in the past 90 days |
| Anything to file in advance | Nothing when the animal travels as accompanied baggage. Cargo is the other branch: prior notice to the border post, plus the entry permit fee |
| Quarantine on arrival | Not named in SENASA’s entry rules. An animal that falls short of them is subject to whatever animal health measures SENASA judges appropriate, at its owner’s expense |
| What the border post does | Documents read, animal examined, identity confirmed. There is no charge when the pet arrives as accompanied baggage |
| Time to allow | About 3 to 6 weeks by our own estimate for a pet already vaccinated, set by the 15 day treatment window and the CFIA endorsement appointment |
How Early to Start From Canada
Three to six weeks is our own estimate when the rabies dose is already in place. Almost none of that is waiting: it is three appointments that have to fall in the right order. One for the parasite treatment, one for the examination and the certificate, and the CFIA endorsement slot, which has to be reserved and paid for at least three days before it happens. If this is your pet’s first rabies vaccination, add the 21 days that have to pass before entry.
A moved flight is what usually costs a Canadian family two weeks. None of these windows are measured from your booking. They are measured from the day a document was signed, so a big enough change sends you back to the vet for the treatment or the certificate, and back to the CFIA queue for a fresh appointment. We keep a margin in the plan for exactly that reason.
Planning the budget? See our breakdown of what pet shipping from Canada costs, fee by fee. Elsewhere in South America: we also handle Brazil and Colombia.
Chile is next door but runs on a 10 day certificate in Spanish, so our Chile page is worth a read before deciding between them. Our pet shipping cost calculator gives a working figure, and our CFIA export certificate guide walks through the endorsement appointment.
Every Pet Travels Differently
Different destinations, different routes, different challenges.
Because how your pet flies out of Canada decides which Argentine procedure applies, we settle the travel mode before anyone starts counting windows.
Destination-Focused Planning
We work from SENASA guidance and the CFIA export process, then turn them into a checklist and a dated timeline you can follow.
Smart Routing and Logistics
Routing out of Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver is chosen with the handling in mind, and we confirm how the animal will be received in Argentina before a booking exists.
Personalized Support
One coordinator holds the CFIA appointment, the treatment dates and the certificate expiry in a single calendar, so no window shuts while another is still open.
Questions about moving a pet to Argentina
Request a QuoteWill my pet be held on arrival from Canada?
Not in quarantine, which SENASA’s rules for dogs and cats do not call for. A dog or cat flying in from Canada is met at the border post, where SENASA staff read the paperwork, examine the animal, and check that the identification on the certificate matches what is in front of them. Where your pet has travelled as accompanied baggage, that verification is carried out free of charge.
What does Canada require to send my pet to Argentina?
Argentina is not one of the countries the CFIA has negotiated a specific export certificate for. The CFIA allows its Canadian International Health Certificate only where a country sets no format of its own and its requirements can be met, and SENASA publishes a model of its own, so the CFIA animal health office in your area is the one to ask which form it will endorse. A veterinarian licensed in Canada completes it, and an official CFIA veterinarian endorses it before your pet leaves the country. Endorsement is by appointment only, walk-ins are refused, and the fee is calculated by a CFIA officer and paid online at least three days before the appointment. It is non-refundable, and it cannot be done once your pet has already left Canada.
What does Argentina require for a pet arriving from Canada?
A rabies vaccination that is current on the day you land, required for animals over three months, with at least 21 days elapsed if it is the first one. Internal and external parasite treatment within 15 days before the certificate is issued. A veterinarian’s clinical examination in the 10 days before that issue date. And an international veterinary certificate issued, signed and sealed by the veterinary authority of the country the pet is travelling from, valid for 60 calendar days from issue.
Does anything have to be filed with SENASA before we leave Canada?
That turns on how the animal is carried. Travelling with you as accompanied baggage, SENASA is explicit that there is no application to file beforehand, no advance notice owed to the border post, and no entry permit to buy. Send the same animal as cargo and it becomes a different procedure: the shipment’s agent owes the border post notice, and the entry permit fee is charged. Because most brokered moves out of Canada sit on the cargo side, we settle which one you are in before anything is booked.
Is a rabies antibody titre needed for Argentina?
No. Nothing on this route goes to a laboratory. Argentina only asks that the rabies vaccination itself is in date when you land, and that a first-ever vaccination happened at least 21 days before entry.
Our kitten is under three months. Can she come?
She can, on a different certificate. Rabies applies from three months, so below that the veterinary authority certifies her age instead, along with the absence of urban rabies at the premises she came from in the previous 90 days. In practice the airline decides this one: Canadian carriers set their own minimum ages, and those are usually stricter than anything Argentina asks.
How much does it cost to move a pet from Canada to Argentina?
The government side is small on this route: the CFIA endorsement fee, which a CFIA officer calculates and you pay online before the appointment, plus your veterinarian’s charges for the examination, the vaccination and the parasite treatment. SENASA charges nothing to verify a pet arriving as accompanied baggage, while a pet arriving as cargo pays the entry permit fee. The large numbers are the flight and the crate. Our Canadian cost breakdown walks through each line.
How does Pet Travel Advisors handle a Canada to Argentina move?
We build the calendar backwards from your flight so the treatment, the certificate and the CFIA endorsement appointment all line up, keep the steps in order with your Canadian veterinarian, book and pay the endorsement appointment in time, arrange the crate and the routing, and tell you exactly what happens at the border post on arrival. If your pet flies as cargo we handle the prior notice as well. One coordinator owns the file from the first vet visit to arrival.
Ready to start?
Book door-to-door pet relocation, or only the parts you need.