Will Falconer, DVM Moderator
Hi D,
So, there's really two things going on:
- Your dogs should never be vaccinated again. Both show common signs of chronic disease.
- You are traveling internationally, which means regs come to bear.
No easy answers here. Going for you is the fact that it's a Third World country with maybe some laxity in the enforcement of animal import regulations. But can you count on that? On the day you land, you could be met by power hungry petty officials, intent on serving justice (or getting bribes, perhaps).
I don't think a health certificate pointing out illness will buy you a Get Out of Quarantine Free card, again, depending on who's on duty. I lived for years on Oahu when the rabies quarantine was 4 months long. (Happy to say my study of that system changed it to much shorter, but it took several years to turn those gears).
Best I can think of is closely interviewing everyone there who already went through what you will go through, and learn all you can about how to grease you skids to slide on in. Bring a normal health certificate, including the dates of the prior rabies vaccines, and hope for the best. Have to look at the worst case and decide if you can survive it. Many older dogs came through Hawaiian quarantine and had daily visits from their dutiful owners. They are more adaptable than we, truth be known.
p.s. I'm remembering a phony arrest my taxi driver got caught up in in India. We argued for nearly an hour, as our flight was leaving for the U.S., and he finally took pity on us and let us drive on. The driver said the phony "cop" was really looking for a bribe. "Oh! How much?" we asked.
The answer floored us: 100 rupies! In the day, that was about $2!! Had we known that's what it was all about, we'd have been on our way in short order.
Suffice it to say that even $10 or $20 to a Costa Rican official would probably get you through any difficulty and on your way.
p.p.s. They're not rabies free, so a quarantine, in the face of a recent health certificate, is really baseless.