Are you planning to travel and overland The Americas and have questions and or concerns about vet care? In this post I will elaborate as much as possible to not only provide you with transparency and accuracy but a sense of security as you travel to new countries with concerns about vet care. Let’s get into it.
Meet Porter 🐾 the main motivator for me to buy a truck and camper to overland the pan-am
Quality of Porter’s US Vet Care
In order for me to share my perspective and experience on vet care in LATAM, I must share the baseline of quality-of-care Porter had in the United States. To start Porter had a few health concerns: seizures, low thyroid and separation anxiety. If you have a Velcro dog you already know this life.
Under US vet care and medication management: if I left Porter alone for one hour, it was as if he was having a constant panic attack. Once I would return, he would settle and have a seizure. If I left him alone for 6+ hours it would result in three to four seizures over the following 24 hours. Our lifelong grumpy old vet in Wisconsin not only refused to prescribe him anxiety medication, she also made it clear there was no way to travel with a pet from country to country. Clearly uninformed.
Under her care, on average, Porter was suffering 30-35 seizures per year.
Quality of Vet Care in LATAM
To keep this section short and sweet, I would like to summarize the quality of vet care that rang true in every single country in Latin America starting with our very first vet consult in La Paz, Mexico with The Dogtor House.
Our 15-minute medication consult ended up being two hours. I walked in with my one-inch binder that held 10 years of Porters medical records in chronological order. All his labs, medications and my journal that detailed every seizure. How long they lasted, his behavior before, during and after each seizure as well as medications he was on at the time. The amount of time, energy and care during this appointment and every single vet appointment that followed was truly mind blowing. Porter was getting better pet care than my aunt with terminal cancer who goes to a level 1 trauma center with an entire wing dedicated to oncology.
Within 12 minutes, the vet in Mexico with visibly frustrated by the improper care from our US vet.
Would I recommend the vet care in LATAM?
Continuing on with our first vet visit in Mexico: The ten years Porter saw our vet in WI he never once took a treat from her. By the end of our consult at the Dogtor House, the vet was kneeled down, and Porter was licking liver pate from her hand and leaning into her, giving her hugs. During this consult, the vet changed every single medication and added anxiety medication.
| Wisconsin Vet | 30-35 seizures per year |
| Mexico Vet | 4 seizures in 18 months |
Not only are the services easily available via WhatsApp text message, but I firmly believe the vet care in Mexico added time to Porter’s life. So, yes, I recommend the vet care in LATAM with my entire heart and soul.
Vet Care in Mexico & Central America
Easy. Caring. Kind. The process to obtain a health certificate for each border crossings are time consuming, but overall easy. Go to each vet with your records, I traveled with a ‘pet passport‘ and kept all the relevant information on the first page, name, DOB, weight, dog breed and most recent vaccinations with the LOT #, sticker, date, dose and vet signature.
Health Certificate Costs
| Country Entered | Health Certificate Cost | Additional Cost | Total |
| Mexico | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Belize | $50 | $75 | $125 |
| Guatemala | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| El Salvador | $25 (for Hon, Nica, CR) | $0 | $25 |
| Honduras | $0 | $24 | $24 |
| Nicaragua | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Costa Rica | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Panama | $172 | $25 | $197 |
| Colombia | $75 | $10 | $85 |
Hope that table is not confusing, the cost listed for each country is what I spent to enter that country. Example: Panama, I spent $172 at the vet in Costa Rica for the health cert to enter Panama and $25 at the Panama border for Porter to enter.
The highest cost to enter with a dog were Belize, Panama and Colombia with Panama being the only vet that physically examined Porter.
What Happened to Porter
One day in Colombia, we woke up and Porter had a full belly. He didn’t appear to be in any pain or discomfort; he did not whine or cry and he certainly did not refuse to eat or drink. He was still jumping up in and out the truck and wanted to go on our morning walk.
Porter is one of the most food motivated dogs I have ever had. So, my first thought was he ate something he wasn’t supposed to, maybe he has a blockage and that’s okay. It’ll mean surgery, but I can rent an apartment, and we will enjoy the rest until he is back to 100%.
We went to an emergency vet in Bogota and things went from okay to bad, fast. A quick ultrasound showed his belly was full of blood and fluid. The vet advised putting him to sleep, I could not give up on him. I opted to drain his stomach with the hopes medication would stop the bleed; I would rent an apartment and make sure he got plenty of rest.
They drained about 2000 ml or .5 gallon from his belly. That is a lot of fluid for a medium-size dog of 48 pounds. Once the procedure was complete, he literally ran to me smiling. I was so happy and filled with hope the bleeding would stop, he would heal and we would continue our travels to the end of the world. This mountain of hope was demolished when the vet put up more images taken during his abdominocentesis. Before she finished her sentence, I could see all the tumors covering his liver and a few spots on his lungs.
Porter’s Cancer Care in Colombia
That one visit turned into eight weeks of fighting for Porter. As he continued to decline, we adjusted his medications. Each and every time his belly filled up, mainly with fluid, we went to the vet once, sometimes twice a week for them to drain his belly.
It was a rollercoaster. Some days he was full of energy, running outside. Some days he would fall over drinking water. His last two weeks were the hardest, chemo was ordered and on the way. I was desperately holding onto the smallest ounce of hope, but Porter had different plans. Five days before his chemo would be delivered, he stopped drinking water and then refused to eat. That weekend I pulled out all the stops, ajiaco soup (his favorite Colombian soup) liver pate (he loves) to a steak dinner, chicken dinner, pork dinner, even gummy bears and ice cream. He refused all of it and then he whined. In pain, in agony, to send a message, I’m not sure, but I’m sure it was the only way he could communicate that he’s done fighting.
Quality of Vet Care in Colombia
MOVET was Porters primary vet in Bogota which is the capital of Colombia. It’s essentially (IMO) a better version of New York City. The cost is affordable. The care is beyond anything I ever expected. In Wisconsin, they won’t even see your pet in an emergency until you pay $5,000 USD. The oncologist Porter saw spent weeks researching all the available chemo and radiation options in all of South America. The staff cared for him like he was their own puppy dog. When we were not at the vet office, they would send text messages to check on Porter and see how he was doing. After 8 weeks and dozens of visits, on Porters last day, the receptionist had tears in her eye. Our main vet was not there, but she reached out with her deepest condolences.
End of Life Cost in Colombia
The bulk of vet costs were during Porters last 8 weeks of life. In total: 32 vet visits, 18 at end of life, 8 – 10 invasive procedures to drain his stomach, one needle biopsy, one biopsy under full anesthesia, oncology consults, a lot of Italian dog food specialized to help his liver, a lot of medications in general, including a medication formulated just for him to help slow his internal bleeding, a cremation and funeral. A rough estimate for all of this care is $2,500 USD.
Again, the emergency vet in Wisconsin charges a $5,000 deposit before they will even see your animal during a life-threatening emergency. If you cannot pay you have to give up your beloved pet.
End of Life Care in Colombia
My last little blip on the quality of care in Colombia. After Porter passed away, we filled out a few forms to have him cremated, collect his paw prints and I picked out a vessel to hold his ashes. They mentioned the opportunity to be present for the cremation; I declined because I wasn’t quite sure what that meant and the first place my mind went was an unpleasant thought.
They meant, you can be present before the cremation to attend your pet’s funeral. Since I wasn’t physically present, they called me on Facetime where I got to see Porter surrounded by flowers and candles, they shared a little prayer, and I got to say goodbye one last time. While I hope this doesn’t happen to any future travelers, if it does, I want you to know that in Colombia our fur babies are sent off with mountains of love and care.
And I am so beyond grateful Porter passed away in Bogota Colombia instead of Wisconsin with care from that grumpy vet. I am currently working on a post that breaks down every dollar I spent for Porter that will separate his last days from the regular cost of health certificates from USA to Colombia. Stay tuned.
Writing all of this out has made me relive every detail, each moment. Porter and I left without an electric cooler, no toilet. Constant tears writing this post, but I am so beyond grateful that I left when I did and that Porter’s last years were his absolute best years of life.
Total Cost for Human and Vet Care
Below is a table of my complete health and vet cost from 2023 to 2026. Parameters: one mid 30’s healthy human undergoing Invisalign treatment with one black lab mix (Porter) with seizures, low thyroid and anxiety that required multiple daily medications. The cost for Porter is into the thousands because he got very sick in Colombia and ultimately passed away from cancer, more details below.
| 🏥 Seriously Sick Two Emergency Clinic Visits in Pedasi, Panama | $0 |
| 🚑 One 45-minute Ambulance Ride in Panama | $0 |
| 🏥 Seriously Sick One ER Visit in Las Tablas, Panama | $0 |
| 🩻 Private ER and Medications in Panama | $737.41 |
| 🩺 Private MD and Special Testing in Colombia | $825.95 |
| 🦷 Dentist in Mexico and Colombia | $421.91 |
| 🐶 Vet x32, 9 health certificates, 3 daily medications including a narcotic and lots of medications at the end plus and a cremation and funeral. This also includes vet purchases I made for street dogs, flea treatments, heartworm, food, etc | $3,166.51 |
| Total Health and Vet Costs | $5,151.84 |
Human Healthcare Overview – LATAM
To read more about human health care, quality and cost click here.
