Travelling with Pet & Food from Canada to USA

[BradPAjax]

Hi All,

Leaving this weekend for NE USA to tour NY, MA, VT... where ever we can get to and back in 3 weeks. Crossing at Thousand Islands Ontario.

We have a Scottish Terrier raised on raw meat diet... beef, chicken, venison frozen into meal sized pucks. Also wanted to bring frozen spaghetti sauce, steak, etc. with us.

Based on quick tour of Border Crossing & Homeland Security site looks like we get to travel "dry" and buy everything once we "land" in USA. Not sure where that leaves our dog...

Just had a friend visit from USA and she brought meat (cold cuts, sausages, etc), cheese, wine up here to Ontario with no issues.

Any help from other Canucks would be appreciated.

[Oriana]

Brad,

On our previous trips to the U.S. we travel with commercial brand dog food and cat food. We bring the empty bags with us to prove the contents. Otherwise, we have no food, as we are only 20 miles from the border and shop at Costco in Bellingham.

We crossed just South of Winnipeg a couple of days ago, and having already been on the road for over a week had pet food, frozen meat (beef, chicken and pork), frozen veg, fresh onions, salad, bananas, milk, cheese, etc.

Having no Wi-Fi the previous 2 nights I was unable to research the website. At the border we were requested to complete an Agriculture inspection, which is normal with the RV. The agent was brilliant and I explained that I'm not sure of the requirements and would appreciate an inspection to ensure we comply.

I had everything open and ready for inspection and when finished, he advised we were OK. Also had some beer, wine, rum, etc,

However, last time across the border on the west Coast, they took the cat food, because we didn't have an empty bag to prove the contents.

[BradPAjax]

Thanks,

We have some commercial dog food in original bag since Fergus's food would take up most of the freezer if that was all he ate.

We will take our dog and people stuff with a written list to review with the agent and see what happens.

[trinita]

We crossed the border at Aldergrove, BC in June. We feed our dog Nutro's, that we purchased in Arizona a few months ago. The US customs officer checked the bag to see where it was made, and it was Kentucky, so we were ok. We had dog food confiscated in the past where we had decanted it into a rubbermaid container.

Funny thing, when we entered Canada after Arizona, Canadian customs did not ask anything about dog food?

[Oriana]

We also prefer Aldergrove, as we can use the bus lane going South.

Returning to Canada, we also have never been asked what pet food or other foods we have on board. Never been inspected either.