The pre-export veterinary examination

Last verified: 2026-08-25

The answer

Before export, your pet must be examined for:

• external parasites; and
• clinical signs of infectious or contagious disease.

The examination must be carried out by a government approved veterinarian or an official government veterinarian — like every other pre-export procedure, which must be done by a government approved veterinarian, in an approved country, before departure.

Combine it with the second worming

The department names this explicitly as a time-saver:

the final veterinary check and the second internal parasite treatment may be done at the same veterinary visit.

Both have to happen very close to departure — the second internal treatment within 5 days before export — so booking them together removes an appointment from the tightest week of the whole process. Ask for it when booking rather than assuming it.

Why this visit carries more weight than it looks

By the time you reach it, everything else is done and dated. This is the appointment where a finding can still move your travel date:

• Fleas or ticks found — they must be removed and the external parasite treatment restarted, which means another 30 days before export for a dog, or 21 for a cat.
• Clinical signs of infectious or contagious disease — the examination cannot certify what it does not find, and treatment takes as long as it takes.

Leave slack in the final fortnight. A plan where everything must go right in the last ten days is a plan that fails on the first surprise.

What is happening in that same window

Depending on your corridor, the last two weeks can hold several deadlines at once:

• the second internal parasite treatment, within 5 days of export;
• external parasite protection still in force, possibly needing re-treatment;
• the pre-export clinical examination;
• for unvaccinated dogs leaving Canada, the canine influenza conditions — ten days of isolation, a PCR within 7 days, and an examination within 48 hours of export.

That last one is worth planning around specifically. See the Canadian dog corridor.

What this page does not tell you

• What the examination consists of beyond the two things it must cover.
• How close to departure it must be, which comes from your import permit and your corridor’s certificate — the sources read so far give the internal-treatment window, not a separate deadline for the examination itself.
• What happens if something is found, beyond the parasite restart — a veterinary judgement.
• Fees, which are your veterinarian’s.