How Much Does It Cost to Ship a Pet from the USA to Brazil?
Brazil asks for less than almost any country on this calculator. No import permit for a dog or cat, no microchip, no rabies antibody test, and no quarantine step in the published procedure. What Brazil does require has to be exactly right, in the right order, and endorsed by USDA APHIS rather than signed by your own veterinarian. Freight on this lane is quoted per booking, so the honest version of this page prices everything except the flight and explains how the flight gets priced. Figures verified September 2026.
Airline freight, and why the crate decides it
Airlines price live animals on chargeable weight: whichever is greater, the actual weight or a volume figure worked out from the crate. For pets the volume figure almost always wins, which is why crate size drives the flight cost more than the animal does. The volumetric divisor is the industry standard 166 cubic inches per pound.
No carrier publishes a live animal tariff for the Brazil lane, so freight is priced per booking once the crate size and the dates are known. We will not print a number we cannot source. For scale, published long-haul lanes carry minimums of $690 to $720 plus a $150 processing fee, and a large crate frequently bills at 60 to 70 kilograms of chargeable weight.
Our cost estimator shows how the other lines add up while freight is quoted. Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro both take long-haul freight from several US gateways, so the routing usually comes down to which carrier will accept your crate size on the date you need rather than to distance.
Whichever carrier takes the booking sets its own hold conditions, crate rules and pet charges, and those vary more between airlines than the fares do. Our list of the airlines that carry pets internationally covers which carriers accept live animals out of the US, and our comparison of US airline pet policies puts the big carriers side by side. The freight mechanics on this page come from American Airlines Cargo, whose conditions are set out in full in our guide to the American Airlines pet policy.
The rest of the bill
| Cost | Amount | Who charges it |
|---|---|---|
| Airline freight | Quoted per booking on this lane | Airline |
| USDA export endorsement | $101 per certificate | USDA APHIS |
| IATA crate | $65 to $378 depending on size | Retailer |
| Rabies vaccination | Set by your clinic | Your vet |
| Internal and external parasite treatment | Set by your clinic | Your vet |
| Clinical examination | Set by your clinic | Your vet |
| Airline live animal processing | $150 per air waybill | Airline |
| Import permit | None for dogs and cats | Not applicable |
| Microchip | Not required by Brazil | Not applicable |
| Rabies titer test | Not required | Not applicable |
| Quarantine | None in the published procedure | Not applicable |
The endorsement sits in the $101 band because no test result has to be verified on the certificate, and Brazil requires none. APHIS does not count rabies vaccinations toward the number of tests, so the vaccination on its own does not push the fee into a higher band. The fee is per certificate rather than per pet, so two animals on one certificate costs far less than two separate certificates.
The certificate is valid for 60 days, and that changes the whole plan
Most countries give you 10 days between the veterinarian signing the certificate and the animal arriving. Brazil gives you 60, provided the rabies vaccination is still valid across that period. It is the most generous window on any route this calculator covers, and it changes how a Brazilian move is planned.
On a 10 day certificate the paperwork has to be timed to the flight, so a weather delay or a bumped booking can cost you the document and a second endorsement fee. On 60 days the paperwork is finished well ahead, the flight is chosen afterwards, and a delay is an inconvenience rather than a restart. If a move has any chance of slipping, this is the route where slipping costs you least.
Two clocks run before the certificate is signed, not after
The 60 day window is generous. The two windows before it are not, and both run backwards from the date the certificate is issued rather than from the flight. The animal has to be treated against internal and external parasites with a broad spectrum product, with the active ingredients named, within 15 days before the certificate is issued. And it has to be examined and found free of clinical signs of infectious or parasitic disease and fit for transport, within 10 days before the certificate is issued.
So the order is treatment, then examination, then certificate, then endorsement, then up to 60 days to fly. Getting that order wrong is the most common way a Brazilian move stalls, because a treatment given after the examination satisfies neither rule.
Two more things Brazil states plainly. A certificate signed only by a private veterinarian is not accepted, so the USDA endorsement is not optional here. And Brazil may refuse an animal previously diagnosed with leishmaniasis, which is worth raising with your veterinarian before anything else is booked.
What is not included here
Your vet sets their own fees. The examination, the parasite treatment and the certificate paperwork are priced by your clinic and vary between practices, so ask your vet directly. Ground transport at either end is quoted per route. Our coordination fee is included in the total we quote you and itemized on your invoice.
Clearance on arrival is a separate step from the veterinary certificate and is handled at the Brazilian port of entry. We arrange it as part of the move and quote it with the rest of the ground work, rather than it being a published government fee.
What moves the price
Crate size is the single biggest lever, because it drives chargeable weight, and on a quoted lane it is the number the carrier prices from. Season matters at both ends: summer heat embargoes in the United States narrow the booking window from May onward, and the southern hemisphere summer does the same in Brazil, so a January move and a July move are not the same job. Two pets on one certificate share the USDA endorsement, while each extra pet adds its own crate and freight. Breed rules are set nationally and separately from the health requirements, so tell us the breed when you ask for a quote.
Figures and sources
Brazilian requirements from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock guidance How to bring your dog or cat to Brazil, which is the authority own English text. Endorsement fees from the USDA APHIS Veterinary Services user fee schedule. Freight mechanics from the American Airlines Cargo live animal pages. Government requirements change, so every figure here is tied to the authority that publishes it. Verified September 2026.
Want this priced for your pet and dates?
Send us the route, the breed and roughly when you want to travel. Request a quote and we will reply with an itemized plan, a timeline and clear next steps. For entry rules and the full paperwork timeline, see our guide to pet shipping requirements for Brazil, or compare other routes on the pet shipping cost calculator.
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