Guam surprises people who assume a US territory means US rules. The federal paperwork still applies, and then Guam adds its own entry permit, its own quarantine and a single legal port of arrival. Cooper has moved with me three times and Guam was the one where I built the timeline backwards from the quarantine, not the flight. Give yourself months, not weeks.

Pet import to Guam is regulated by Guam Department of Agriculture. The core requirements are summarized below: a microchip, a rabies vaccine within the right window, and a government-endorsed health certificate. Some destinations also require a titer test or short quarantine — those are flagged in the table.

Who sets the rules here

Guam applies the rules of the United States as its baseline, and adds requirements of its own on top.

Official source
doag.guam.gov
Relationship to the United States
inherits, plus local rules

How Guam handles your pet

Key points

  • Guam is rabies-free and runs the strictest pet-entry regime in the United States: "Guam is rabies-free
  • Guam's quarantine law is designed to protect residents and pets from the devastating problems associated with the spread of rabies." Every animal needs an entry permit, with no exceptions — "If it has a heartbeat it requires an entry permit." The baseline is 120 days of commercial quarantine, and the whole game is shortening it, because the 120 days are counted from the day the FAVN blood sample reaches the laboratory, not from arrival: "then your pet will have to spend only as many days in commercial quarantine as required to reach 120 total days since the FAVN blood sample reached the laboratory." So a sample drawn early enough can reduce commercial quarantine to almost nothing
  • Three routes exist besides the full 120 days: Calculated Quarantine (FAVN 0.5 to 0.99 IU); Five Days or Less with Home Quarantine, which needs a FAVN of at least 1.0 IU and is open only to animals "originating in the mainland United States for 120 days or more and military personnel located on military instillations"; and full exemption for pets resident at least 120 days in an area Guam recognises as rabies-free, such as Japan or Hawaii
  • Two age limits bite
  • Guam's regulation requires the first rabies vaccination at "ninety (90) days of age or more" — stored as 13 weeks, the smallest whole week that satisfies 90 days
  • And a pet cannot realistically arrive before five months: "The Department will not approve the entry permit for an animal younger than 5 months if it will be required to complete 120 days of commercial quarantine"
  • Finally, a pet from a designated rabies-free area needs an affidavit for export or certificate of origin certifying it did not leave that area in the preceding four months

Each fact comes straight from the operator’s published policy. Tap the to read the exact wording; the opens the source page.

Health & documents

Microchip · Required Yesverified 2026-09-15
Microchip · StandardU.S. made and readable with an AVID universal scanner (e.g. AVID chip, Home Again chip)verified 2026-09-15
Quarantine · Typeapproved_facilityverified 2026-09-15
Quarantine · Required Yesverified 2026-09-15
Quarantine · Reducible Yesverified 2026-09-15
Quarantine · Duration120 daysverified 2026-09-15
Quarantine · Pre-approval required Yesverified 2026-09-15
Quarantine · Reduced duration5 daysverified 2026-09-15
Quarantine · Approved facility required Yesverified 2026-09-15
Rabies titer test (FAVN) · Required Yesverified 2026-09-15
Rabies titer test (FAVN) · Approved labs list
  • Rabies Laboratory, Kansas State University
  • Research Institute for Animal Science (Sagamihara, Japan)
  • EU DEFRA approved laboratories
verified 2026-08-31
Rabies titer test (FAVN) · Minimum level iu ml0.5verified 2026-09-15
Rabies titer test (FAVN) · Test validity months12 monthsverified 2026-09-15
Rabies titer test (FAVN) · Approved laboratory required Yesverified 2026-09-15
Rabies titer test (FAVN) · Waiting period after test days90 daysverified 2026-09-15
Import permit · Cost$65.00 per petverified 2026-09-15
Import permit · Required Yesverified 2026-09-15
Import permit · Issuing authorityGuam Department of Agricultureverified 2026-09-15
Flea treatment · Timing notesIf the animal is determined to be affected, it must be treated for external parasites (fleas and ticks) within 14 days of arrival on Guam; the vet must certify the date of treatment and the product used on the health certificate.verified 2026-07-22
Tick treatment · Timing notesIf the animal is determined to be affected, it must be treated for external parasites (fleas and ticks) within 14 days of arrival on Guam; the vet must certify the date of treatment and the product used on the health certificate.verified 2026-07-22
Health certificate · Issueraccredited_vetverified 2026-09-15
Health certificate · Required Yesverified 2026-09-15
Health certificate · Validity days10 daysverified 2026-09-15
Health certificate · Original required Yesverified 2026-09-15
Other vaccinations · Distemper Yesverified 2026-08-06
Other vaccinations · Adenovirus Yesverified 2026-08-28
Other vaccinations · Bordetella Yesverified 2026-07-22
Other vaccinations · Parvovirus Yesverified 2026-07-22
Other vaccinations · Leptospirosis Yesverified 2026-07-22
Other vaccinations · Parainfluenza Yesverified 2026-08-06
Rabies vaccination · Required Yesverified 2026-09-15
Rabies vaccination · Booster required Yesverified 2026-09-15
Rabies vaccination · Approved vaccines listinactivatedverified 2026-09-15
Rabies vaccination · Waiting period after vaccination30 daysverified 2026-09-15
Rabies vaccination · Min age at vaccination13 weeksverified 2026-09-15
Internal parasite treatment · Timing notesIf the animal is determined to be affected, it must be treated for internal parasites (helminths and heartworms) within 14 days of arrival on Guam; the vet must certify the date of treatment and the product used on the health certificate.verified 2026-07-22
Health certificate valid within days · Health certificate valid within days10 daysverified 2026-08-28

Other rules

Pets accepted Acceptedverified 2026-07-22
Pregnant animals accepted Noverified 2026-09-15

Service & assistance animals

Recognized Yesverified 2026-09-15
Documentation requiredAn entry permit obtained prior to travel is required for all service, working, emotional support and military working animals. Guam grants no exemption from its entry requirements for these animals.verified 2026-09-15

Timing chain

Day -90 microchip implant · Day -30 rabies vaccine deadline · Day -10 health certificate issued · Day 0 arrive at customs

Ports of entry

  • A.B. Won Pat International Airport

verified 2026-09-15

The health certificate must be issued by an accredited veterinarian within 10 days of arrival, which is a tighter window than most destinations allow. Ten days has to cover the vet appointment, any endorsement step and the flight itself. Scheduling that appointment before the rest of the file is complete is how a certificate expires in transit and the animal arrives undocumented.
Entry is permitted only at A.B. Won Pat International Airport unless the Director authorises another point in writing. That rules out arriving by sea or through a military installation as a matter of convenience, and it constrains routing: a connection that lands anywhere else on the island is not a legal arrival. Confirm the routing with the airline before booking.
The Guam entry permit costs 65 USD per pet, which is the smallest line in this budget by a wide margin. The quarantine decides the real cost: 120 days at an approved facility against a 5-day release for animals whose pre-arrival requirements are all complete and verified. Two identical dogs can differ by four months on paperwork timing alone.
Guam is very doable, but only on a long runway. Get the microchip and rabies vaccination done, book the titer with the 120-day clock in mind, then the permit, then the 10-day certificate, then the flight into A.B. Won Pat. Cooper and I have never regretted starting early on a move like this one. Build the plan around the quarantine date and the rest follows.
Get YOUR personalized plan for Guam →

Glossary

ISO chip
ISO 11784/11785 — the universal microchip standard.
FAVN
Fluorescent Antibody Virus Neutralization — a rabies serology test required by rabies-free destinations.
Brachycephalic
Snub-nosed breeds (French Bulldogs, Pugs, Persians, Himalayans) with restricted airline acceptance due to heat-stress risk.
AVIH
Animal Vehicle In Hold — IATA's term for cargo pet shipment, with fees that vary by carrier and route.