I confess that while I can worry about most anything, getting our two cats – Guy and Chloe -to their new home in Ecuador with minimal trauma has been my main concern. Though truth be told they’re already somewhat annoyed with me as I have put them on a diet and they seem to be perpetually hungry, constantly meowing for more food whenever I go to the kitchen.
This change in their culinary routine is due to my nightmare 
fantasy that we’ll arrive at the American Airlines desk at Miami International with our cats neatly installed in their spiffy new carriers (carefully chosen as you’ll read shortly) to meet all the AA specs, only to be told that Guy, 16 pounds at last weighing 3 weeks ago, exceeds the weight limit. After all, Guy had disobeyed the vet as soon as I brought him home from the Humane Society when he was only 2 pounds and 8 weeks old; at that time the vet told me upon picking the two cats up after their little neutering operation that morning that they would likely be sleepy and not eat for the rest of the day. Not Guy. As soon as I let them out of their carriers, Guy headed to the food bowl and proceeded to inhale the contents.
Now 7 years and 14 Guy pounds later, our two fur babies are, unbeknownst to them, headed to a new home.
The good news about moving your pets to Ecuador is that they do not quarantine the animals, as long as you have the required shots and paperwork – an International Medical Certificate that must be completed, certified by a USDA Veterinarian, and apostilled (of course) by the Secretary of State, all within 10 days of your arrival in the country. But be aware that the rabies shot must be more than 90 days old, the distemper at least 60 days old and the de-worming no more than 30 days old so make sure you get the timing coordinated well in advance of your departure.
When you have pets you want to relocate with you (and if you don’t consider them part of your family, why have them in the first place?), you have three choices for transportation. Ship them in the plane cargo, take them in the cabin with you if they will fit in carriers that fit under the seat, or pay multiple thousands of dollars for luxury pet transport services. Although I treat them like royalty, this last option was clearly not in our cats’ futures.
My current (always the operative word in EC) understanding of transporting pets in Ecuador is that it’s not clear you can fly them within the country, at least not without risking quarantine if you were to transfer from one of the two international airports (Quito or Guayaquil) and take another flight within the country. To eliminate any risk of quarantine, it was immediately clear that we would want to drive to our final destination once we hit the border. So we will fly to Guayaquil, only a 3-4 drive from our new home versus Quito which would be an 8-9 hour drive. With that itinerary, we had a choice of either LAN airlines or American Airlines since we wanted a direct flight from Miami to Guayaquil.
LAN will only fly animals in their special pet cargo area (separate from the baggage) and they consistently seem to get good reviews for their pet cargo transport. American Airlines takes animals both in the cabin and in cargo; however, if any city along the route is 85 degrees or more (Fahrenheit), they will not allow the animal to fly cargo and you may not know until the day you fly!
I had a few hours of angst after I made the airline reservations, having booked the animals for travel in the cabin once the agent told me about the 85 degree restriction not yet knowing just how much Guy actually weighed and whether we would find pet carriers that met AA’s pet carrier specs: no more than 19” long x 13” wide x 9” high, a total weight of no more than 20 pounds (animal plus carrier), and as the agent said innocently “ the animal has to be able to stand up in the carrier”.
“What?!!!!” I demanded, “that’s impossible, think about this, it doesn’t make sense that an animal weighing 15-18 pounds will be able to stand up in 9” of space.” Obviously I had momentarily entered an altered state of consciousness thinking I might get a helpful rational response from this poor woman I was besieging with questions.
Thus began my search for the perfect carrier, one that would carry an animal of hopefully less than 20 pounds (thankfully confirmed by the vet 2 weeks later), meet the ridiculous height specifications, and not turn my cats into sardines.
After two trips to Petco, returning one pet carrier, and an hour on the internet, I am delighted to report that I think I’ve found what appears to be the one soft pet carrier that will work! Allow me to introduce the SturdiBag Pet Carrier. You can read a fuller description on the Resources Page, but I think it has a brilliant design with a key feature being that it has a “squishable” top, which means it should/will fit under most airlines seats.
Needless to say, I am thrilled. Granted the carriers have not yet been road air-tested, but I am 90% confident they will work. Now that I have them in hand, I think we’ll just slip under the wire – yes, the cats will be cramped, but after take-off we can pull the carrier out and expand the tops. Now all I need to do are get the potty pads and endure the incessant “more food” meowing for the next 12 weeks!
Hi,
Thanks for the comprehensive info! I am reaching out in the hope you may know where I could find information, since the web is not helping.
Do you know if there is some some of pet care in Quito where we could leave 2 cats for approx 6 weeks? We are relocating to Quito and ideally I would want to bring the cats ahead of the full family move.
thanks for any sort of assistance,
Eliane
We are trying to get our cat from Alaska to Quito Ecuador. Can you recommend someone to help us with the import permit here in Quito? As I remember from flying our ferrets in a year ago, there was lots of paperwork and several different offices we had to go to. I’m still learning Spanish so would appreciate the help.
Hi Tara – thanks for stopping by. I”m not sure what you’re referring to with respect to an “import permit”. In terms of the Ecuadorean government, the only requirement (as of 19 months ago) was a certificate (perhaps this is what you mean by a permit) that had to be obtained from an Ecuadorean consulate in the U.S. or Canada. The only other paperwork is the documentation for the various vaccinations (each need to be given in the specified time periods before emigration), the medical exam certificate from your local USDA approved vet and a certificate from the USDA itself. Of course, regulations may have changed since we brought our cats to Ecuador. Good luck!
Manya,
Thanks for giving us such great information. It was exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. I was wondering if you had any advice for someone getting 4 big 10-year-old cats to Ecuador? I’m the only non-feline and wonder how taking so many cats, only having paid for one seat, could be managed in the cabin. I am guessing that I would have to buy extra seats to accommodate everyone. What advice can you give me?
Also, how much did American Airlines charge you in total for your seat and for your 2 cats? What made you decide against having your cats fly in the pet cargo area with LAN? Does LAN also have the 85 degrees rule? How much does AA and LAN charge for a pet to fly in cargo? Does a pet carrier stowed in cargo have to meet the same qualifications as one in the cabin?
How did your cats deal with flying? I think that my cats would be so scared that I would have to tranquilize them to spare them the trauma. What do you think?
Gosh, I see that I have asked ten million questions! Please don’t feel that you have to respond right away or even at all.
Thanks again.
My Very Best,
Kim
Hi Kim – Thanks for stopping by. Having moved 19 months ago, I don’t have the current information that you to answer your questions. I can say that likely you will have to ship your cats in pet cargo, as even on American you can only take 2 cats in the cabin (with a total weight of 20 lbs. for cat and carrier). Since we had 2 and we met the weight limits, our preference was to take them in the cabin. At the time we moved, the cabin charge for each cats was $125.00 I believe, but I have no idea what it is now. Of course, the airfare per person varies constantly. I suggest you call both AA and LAN to get the answers to your questions. As for trauma to the cats, I would say the flying was the least of the trauma they encountered. Our vet recommended against tranquilizing and we used tranquilizers only the first day we were driving cross-country. Best of luck with getting your fur-babies and yourself to Ecuador.
Hi Manya
Thanks for your good information however I am having a question for you. ?? next month I am planning to bring my dog from Canada and all the vet papers are ready just what is really bother me this information from pet broker
1) Tax in Ecuadorian Ministery, USD 24.00
2) Fee for getting Ecuadorian import permit
and for clearing 1 pet USD 1,100.00
3) Approx warehouse payment for pets, approx USD 120.00
4) Fee to get the original air way bill USD 35.00
5) 1 night in Hotel USD 46.00
6) Approx taxes to pay to Ecuadorian Customs
Could I bring my baby without those blood s….rs and do all by myself.
Thank you
Eugene
Eugene – why are you paying a pet broker and all those fees? You can certainly do it yourself. It’s been over a year now since we did it, but as I recall the only fees we paid specifically for our pets was the vet fee for the medical exam and any necessary tests, a USDA vet fee, and the fee to the Ecuadorian consulate to get the required entry certificates. Then there is whatever the airline fee is for your pet (carry on vs. traveling in cargo). Those were all the pet-specfic fees we paid.
Manya, this is the best complete information I have seen in my research, I am feeling a bit better now, and hope things don’t change much before my move down at the end of the year (hopefully sooner!) Thank you so much!
Sue, thanks for stopping by and so glad you found the info helpful. Yes, do make sure your info is up-to-date. Any USDA office should have current info. Let me know if you have other questions. Good luck with your move!
What does it cost (aside from airfare) to import a cat into Ecuador? I read somewhere that it costs over $1,000 US.
Kathy – that’s not true. The only costs besides the airfare will be whatever your vet charges to do the medical exam and shots, the USDA fee which was $38 when we did it, the apostille fee ($5-10) and the Ecuadorian consulate fee which is $50. There are people who pay for luxury pet transport services and those do run in the 1,000’s but not when you do it yourself.
Thank you Manya.
Another question—-I just read that it is very difficult to find really high quality pet food there, and do I even dare to hope for cat litter?
That may depend on where in Ecuador you will be. It’s true that in general there is much less choice for cat food and cat litter. However, they are available. In the Cuenca area, the only wet food is Friskies (sells for anywhere from 1.75-2.25/can). I buy a Purina mix which probably is not as high nutrient as what you can buy in the States. There are veterinarian offices and specialty pet stores where you can buy IAMS but it is unbelievably expensive (from my perspective of having 2 cats). Cat litter is also much more expensive; however, you can find Tidy Cat (about 4x more expensive). The best cat litter I have found here (both in quality and cost) is a Peruvian brand, called Klin Kat. It is clumping, odor-free, and costs about $11 (at Supermaxi) for 10kg. I have definitely compromised on the cat food particularly because in the U.S. I bought CD medicated food, absolutely not available here.
YIKES!
How did I miss that the pet form has to be apostilled??? More a bit freaked. Time to get the calendar out and make some adjustments. Head spinning.
Any feedback on how the carrier worked out? Still have to make that purchase.
Hope to fly early March and headed to Cuenca. What a process! Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Hi Jaci – the Sturdibag Carriers work great, assuming your pet(s) are under 17.5 pounds (as the AA limit for pet and carrier in the cabin is 20 pounds). As long as you’ve got your calendar marked and all the arrangements in place, you’ll be fine. Buena Suerte!