Formalities to bring your pet in Uruguay

I am doing this at present. We leave Canada next month for Uruguay with our 15 lb dog.

Your dog needs a rabies shot at least 30 days but not more than one year on the day the enter Uruguay. Then 10 days or less before the flight, you take them back to your vet and they examine the dog and complete an International Health Certificate. In Canada there is one in English, French and Spanish.  The vet needs to treat the dog for tapeworms and fleas. This needs to be more than three days before you leave but less than ten days.  Then you take that form to the Department of Agriculture vet to be signed and stamped. If they are too far away, you have to mail it and get it back in the days remaining before it expires.
As far as I know, your dog will travel in baggage as no airlines permit pets in the cabin to South America. You need to carefully check the requirements for crate size, labelling, food requirements etc and temperature at any airport you will stop at.
I am stopping at Toronto and Santiago as I think Miami, Panama, etc will be too hot when I am going. You need to book space in baggage as they generally will only take three dogs per flight.
If you have several connecting flights, be aware that if you are flying with the same airline, they will not return the dog to you between flights and I have known people who say their dog was crated for over 24 hours without any food.  I paid quite a lot extra to book each leg separately for me with at least four hours between flights so I can claim my dog and let her out at each stop. Hopefully that is how it will go anyway!
Relevant authorities are - your vet, the Government Department of Agriculture vet, each airline you want to use. You do not need Uruguayan pre approval or legalizing for cats and dogs. Not sure about any other animals.
There is no quarantine on arrival and most people report a fairly simple entry for pets.

Janet

Hello Janet!

Thanks for your contribution.

Harmonie.

Just thought I would give an update on how it went bringing our dog from Canada.  She did really well. The kind folks at Air Canada did not charge the additional $105 for the trip from Halifax to Toronto and we were able to collect her in Toronto and as we had relatives meeting us there during our layover, we drove a short distance out of the airport and let her out for a quick walk and some food.
We then went back for the trip to Santiago. Once there, I had to go through customs with her and they are very strict there and took all the dog food I had. I quickly stuffed some in the crate before they took it as she had not eaten since Toronto! You cannot avoid customs there if you want to let the dog out after the long trip. The paperwork is the same as Uruguay and there was no charge.  If you are able to have your luggage sent right through, then you could put dog food etc. in there and not have to take it through customs. We went on Pluna which does not connect with Air Canada so all our luggage had to be collected by us. After customs, I went outside with her. Pluna also did not charge for her and considered her still in transit.

Make sure you leave at least two or more hours to do this. It was quite slow to deal with customs and then line up again to be screened for the flight to Uruguay. They also want the pet about an hour or more before the flight.

It is handy to carry an empty small water bottle on you and a few poop bags. I was able to give  her a drink by filling it in the nearest wash room as it was not always easy to find drinking  water and I did not have the right currency for their machines.

On each flight I told the flight attendant that I was traveling with a dog and wanted to know when she was boarded. They were all good at letting me know she had been put on.
If anyone has any other questions feel free to ask.
Janet and Star

I am new here, considering moving to Uruguay from California in the next year or so.

I have a related question.  Can a small service dog fly in the cabin with me? In US he can, regardless of how many others are on the plane.

And are service dogs recognized in any way in Uraguay?

You might want to read some of the info on Flyertalk about travelling with service animals. It seems many are very unhappy with  AA and their treatment  of passengers with service animals.

I cannot comment specifically on Uruguay and service animals but I will warn you that sidewalks are very rough and uneven with multiple hazards for everyone including missing and broken pavers, large roots of trees, garbage and dog poop, areas of gravel or grass poorly maintained, no wheelchair ramps, high kerbs etc.
I also have not heard any beeping crossing signals like I was used to in Canada.  I have not seen much for the disabled here and where I live in Atlantida, I mostly walk in the road as there are no sidewalks on many streets.

Uruguay, like most of SA, is not particularly handicapped friendly.  In some parts of Montevideo the sidewalks just plain suck, in others they are not so bad.  The Rambla, which runs along the waterfront, is generally in very good to excellent condition if you need a good walking area.

I do not know how or if service dogs are recognized, but most Uruguayans are pretty mellow people and certainly would not hassle you at all about your dog.  I have no idea on restaurants.  You may want to get a vest for your dog in spanish that says 'service dog' just in case.

@janway I am doing the same thing in the fall but with a dog flying in baggage (too big to fly in tht cabin). Do you have any information on days and hours that the veterinary inspection is open at the airport, or where did you find that? Was it fairly easy to find where that is located in the airport? I saw your second post that's great info We are going through Sao Paulo because of the heat as you say in Miami and Panama City and Houston., and Pluna was closed down

We left Uruguay about a year ago and flew MVD to Sao Paulo with a dog. I booked separate flights so I could collect her in Sao Paulo.  It took some time there as they Xrayed the crate - we had to remove the dog and at first they said I could not put her cushion back in the crate. We were flying to Canada and I got rather upset at the idea of my dog in a plastic crate for 12 hours with no cushion/towel etc. Finally they let me add the bedding.

There was no inspection, they just looked at the paperwork/ vaccines etc. and once she was cleared we took her outside  for a quick pee and fed her before sending her on to the flight to Montreal.

I would think it would be similar going the other way.

@Debbie Colbourn i do believe the people at customs for your dog are there at all times during the week, I remember we couldn’t get a trip that would arrive on a saturday or sunday because there would be no customs for animals, we arrived with my kitty at 2 am on a Tuesday with Copa,  there was a  lady waiting for us with a scanner for the chip and it was pretty easy and fast, once you pass with your bags on the xray machine you walk into the USDA  (ministerio de agricultura y pesca is the name here) and that is it.