Bringing your dog to the US from Turkey

In short

• Turkey is on the CDC high-risk list. A dog that has been in Turkey in the last 6 months follows the high-risk rules, even a US dog on a summer holiday.
• A dog vaccinated in Turkey needs the titer test, the Certification of Foreign Rabies Vaccination and Microchip and a booking at a CDC-registered animal care facility.
• The CDC list includes one laboratory in Turkey, so the blood sample may not have to leave the country.
• To bring the dog back to Turkey, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry asks for a titer result too, with its own waiting period.

Before you leave Turkey

Start with the microchip. For a dog vaccinated outside the US, the CDC requires the chip to be implanted before the rabies vaccination. A dog vaccinated first needs a new vaccination after the chip, and every date that follows moves with it. Turkey’s own rule is the same: the Ministry says the rabies vaccination must be given after the microchip.

The CDC asks for the Certification of Foreign Rabies Vaccination and Microchip, completed by your vet and endorsed by an official government veterinarian no more than 30 days before travel. In Turkey, ask your vet which provincial directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry endorses the certificate, and book that visit as close to departure as the CDC window allows.

The Ministry’s information sheet for pets leaving Turkey adds two points worth knowing. Some restricted breeds need prior permission from the Ministry before they leave, and the rabies serology report is described as valid for the animal’s lifetime if the vaccination is kept up without interruption. The CDC treats a valid titer in a similar way, but check the dates with the rabies titer test before you rely on an old result.

A dog vaccinated in the US that has the Certification of US-Issued Rabies Vaccination, endorsed by USDA before it left the US, follows the US-vaccinated path and does not need a titer or an animal care facility. See US-vaccinated dogs.

Getting a titer test from Turkey

The CDC list of approved laboratories includes one in Turkey, the Veterinary Control Central Research Institute. Your vet draws the blood at least 30 days after the rabies vaccination and at least 28 days before arrival in the US, with a result of at least 0.5 IU/mL. Without a valid titer, your dog faces a 28-day quarantine at the animal care facility. See the rabies titer test.

Confirm with your vet that the laboratory accepts private samples and how long the report takes. If it is slow or busy, a CDC-approved laboratory in another country is also acceptable, but the sample then has to travel.

Flights to the US

A foreign-vaccinated dog from Turkey must fly directly into one of the US airports with a CDC-registered animal care facility, with a reservation there, and cannot take a domestic connection inside the US before the facility clears it. Istanbul has nonstop flights to several US cities, but not every one of them has a facility, so choose the facility first and the flight second. The list is on animal care facilities.

If you connect in Europe, keep your dog airside and with the airline. Several neighbors of Turkey, including Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq and Syria, are on the CDC high-risk list, and clearing customs in one of them counts as having been there.

The CDC receipt for a high-risk dog covers one entry, on the date and at the airport you declared. If the flight changes, the form must be done again.

Coming back to Turkey

For dogs that travel with their owner, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry sets these conditions:

• the dog needs a passport or identification document showing the owner;
• it must be microchipped, and the rabies vaccination must be given after the microchip;
• a rabies antibody titer must be taken at least 30 days after the vaccination at an accredited laboratory on the Ministry’s list, with a result above 0.5 IU;
• after a first titer test, the dog must wait 90 days from the result before travel. On later trips the wait is skipped if the vaccination is renewed within its validity;
• a veterinary health certificate from the competent authority of the departure country, issued within 2 days before travel;
• a passenger may bring a maximum of 2 animals.

Whether a US titer from a CDC-approved laboratory is on the Ministry’s list of accepted laboratories is not something we can confirm: ask the Ministry or the Turkish consulate before you take the sample, so the test is not repeated.