Where to find a vet in Santa Teresa, Cobano and Montezuma, what to do in a pet emergency, where to buy food, the 2026 rules for flying a dog into Costa Rica (USDA certificate, microchip, no quarantine), which beaches and restaurants welcome dogs, the tick and heat risks, and how to help Amigos Perros de Nicoya.
Santa Teresa has one veterinary practice in town, Agroveterinaria Santa Teresa, and two full clinics 20 to 30 minutes away in Cobano: Dog the Cat Veterinary Clinic on the Montezuma road and Veterinaria Nambí next to Hotel Sunset. Dogs fly into Costa Rica with no quarantine on a USDA-endorsed health certificate and a microchip, and most of the beach and the open-air restaurants here are dog country.
The short version
For everyday care, vaccines, deworming, and flea and tick products, Agroveterinaria Santa Teresa on the main road is the place, and it sells food and supplies too. For surgery, x-rays, blood work, and anything that needs a proper clinic, drive to Cobano: Dog the Cat Veterinary Clinic has a WhatsApp line and a municipal veterinary licence, and Veterinaria Nambí is a full centre 125 metres east of the Cobano cemetery. There is no 24-hour animal hospital on the peninsula; after hours you call the Cobano clinics and hope, or drive to San Jose for the serious cases. Amigos Perros de Nicoya runs the neutering campaigns and helps with injured strays, and Wild Sun Rescue in Cabuya takes wildlife rather than pets.
Bringing a dog is easier than most people expect. Costa Rica has no quarantine when the paperwork is right: a rabies shot at least 21 days before travel, a parasite treatment within 15 days, a USDA-endorsed health certificate issued within 14 days, and, since a SENASA notice of 18 December 2025, a microchip whose number appears on the certificate. The hard part comes after the airport: ticks, heat, and the road. The moving to Santa Teresa guide covers the rest of relocating; this one is for the dog.
Agroveterinaria Santa Teresa
Agroveterinaria Santa Teresa is the agricultural and veterinary supply shop on the main road in Santa Teresa, open Monday to Friday 8:30am to 5pm and Saturday 8:30am to 1pm, closed Sunday, with WhatsApp booking and 11 Google reviews at 5.0. It stocks dog and cat food, flea and tick treatments, dewormers, and the farm supplies its name implies, and it offers consultations and vaccinations without the drive to Cobano. Regulars use it for the monthly tick pill, a vaccine booster, and a first look at a limp or a rash.
Who it suits: residents and long-stay visitors who need routine care and supplies close to home. The caveat is that it is a shop with a vet rather than a hospital: no surgery suite, no imaging, and no weekend afternoon or Sunday cover, so anything serious goes to Cobano.
Dog the Cat Veterinary Clinic, Cobano
Dog the Cat Veterinary Clinic is on Calle Pura Vida between Cobano and Montezuma, with appointments and information on WhatsApp +506 2640 0946, per its Facebook page. It holds an active municipal patent for a veterinary clinic, per peninsulaconnect.com, which is worth knowing in a district where some "vets" work out of a car. It is the clinic Montezuma and Cabuya residents use, and the one to message for surgery, neutering, vaccines and lab work; ask for the current service list and hours when you book. Who it suits: anyone who needs a real clinic within 30 minutes of Santa Teresa. The caveat is location: it is 25 minutes from the cruce on the road to Montezuma, so pair the visit with a shop in Cobano.
Veterinaria Nambí, Cobano
Veterinaria Nambí is a veterinary centre 125 metres east of the Cobano cemetery, next to Hotel Sunset, on +506 4080 7966, per its Instagram account, which also advertises help with travel paperwork for pets. It presents itself as a full veterinary centre, and the travel paperwork line makes it the first call for the export health checks a dog needs before flying home; confirm what surgery and in-patient care it offers when you call. Who it suits: pet owners who need the travel certificate, a surgery, or an overnight stay. The caveat is that Cobano clinics work in Spanish first, so bring a translation app or a Spanish-speaking friend for anything beyond a vaccine.
Emergencies
Plan for one before you need it. None of the peninsula's clinics advertises 24-hour emergency cover. Save both Cobano numbers and Agroveterinaria's WhatsApp, ask each on arrival what they do after hours, and keep the number of a taxi driver who will take a dog (the taxi guide explains why that needs arranging in advance). For a snake bite, a toad poisoning (the cane toads here are lethal to dogs that mouth them), heat stroke, or a road accident, the Cobano clinics are the first call and San Jose's 24-hour hospitals are the second, four to five hours away by road, or 30 minutes by air from Cobano if an airline will carry the animal that day. A pet first aid kit with saline, bandages, hydrogen peroxide, and a muzzle is not overkill here.
Food, supplies and grooming
Agroveterinaria Santa Teresa carries the main dry food brands and the veterinary lines; the supermarkets (Super Ronny, Super Costa, Super La Hacienda, MegaSuper at Playa Carmen) stock the commercial brands at a markup. Instinto Animal, a pet and plant shop with an Instagram presence in Santa Teresa, is the boutique option for toys, leads, and natural food. Cobano has the widest choice and the lowest prices; stock up on a clinic run. Grooming is by appointment with mobile groomers who advertise in the community WhatsApp groups; ask at Agroveterinaria for a current name. The grocery shopping guide has the supermarket map.
Bringing a dog to Costa Rica in 2026
The rules for an accompanied dog or cat from the US, per pettravelcheck.com and the SENASA guidance summarised at crie.cr, are these, in order.
- Microchip (ISO 11784/11785), required since SENASA's notice of 18 December 2025, with the number written on every document.
- Rabies vaccination at least 21 days before arrival (give it 30 to be safe) and current on the day you land; some guides warn that only one-year vaccines are accepted, so ask your vet.
- Core vaccines current: DHLPP for dogs (distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis, parvovirus), the feline panel for cats.
- Internal and external parasite treatment within 15 days of travel, with product name, lot number and date on the certificate.
- An international health certificate (APHIS 7001 or the Costa Rica bilateral form) completed by a USDA-accredited vet within 14 days of arrival and endorsed by USDA APHIS, which takes three to seven business days.
Pets in the cabin or as accompanied baggage need no import permit; SENASA clears them at the airport. Pets shipped as cargo need a SENASA import permit in advance. There is no quarantine and no rabies titre test. The usual reason a dog is held at SJO is a missing parasite line or a mismatched microchip number. Budget $125 to $300 for the airline fee, $20 to $60 for the parasite treatment, and $150 to $300 for the vet visit and USDA endorsement. Canadians follow the same steps with a CFIA-endorsed certificate. Going home to the US, the CDC now requires its own dog import form and a microchip, and Costa Rica counts as a low-risk rabies country, so the return is simple if the chip is in.
Dog-friendly beaches and restaurants
Dogs are part of the furniture here. The beach from Playa Hermosa to Mal Pais has no leash rule in practice and you will meet a dozen dogs on any sunset walk; the only places to keep out of are the turtle nesting stretches when they are marked and Cabo Blanco reserve, which does not admit pets. Most restaurants with open-air seating on the main road let a leashed dog sit under the table, and BringFido lists Santa Teresa villas that take dogs of any size at no charge. Costa Rica tightened its rules for pet-friendly businesses in 2025: places that admit animals must post a sign, require a leash (and a muzzle where needed), and provide waste bins, so a "no perros" sign at a cafe is now the owner following the law rather than disliking your dog. Ask before you sit down, and pick a table at the edge. For where families with dogs and kids tend to stay, see Santa Teresa with kids and family-friendly stays.
Ticks, heat, and the other local risks
Ticks are the big one. The brown dog tick carries Ehrlichia canis, the "tick fever" that is endemic across Costa Rica, and a dog that arrives without protection can pick it up within weeks. Use a monthly oral preventive (NexGard, Bravecto, Simparica are all sold at Agroveterinaria and in Cobano), check the ears and toes after every beach walk, and get a blood test at the first sign of lethargy or bleeding gums. Heat is second: the sand on Playa Carmen is too hot for paws by 10am from January to April, and dogs left in cars or on tin-roofed porches die every year. Walk at dawn and dusk, carry water, and give a short-nosed dog shade. Then the smaller list: cane toads (fatal if licked; keep dogs away from anything hopping at night), sea urchins and stingrays in the tide pools, coconuts and crabs on the beach, the road (there is no verge on the main road and traffic does not slow), and the local dogs, most of which are friendly but not all of which are neutered.
The rescue groups
Amigos Perros de Nicoya is the volunteer group that runs low-cost neutering campaigns in Santa Teresa, Rio Negro, Delicias, Cobano and the surrounding villages, supported by the Nicoya Peninsula Foundation's Pet Support Fund. In 2025 it helped more than 1,020 animals with neutering, medicine and food, and its 2026 goal is 2,000 castrations; a small dog or cat costs about $20 to neuter and a large dog $24, so a $25 donation covers one, per nicoyapeninsulafoundation.org. It also organises care for injured strays and posts adoptable puppies in the community Facebook groups, which is where most Santa Teresa dogs come from. If you find a hurt dog, message the group before you drive to Cobano; a volunteer may be closer. Wild Sun Rescue in Cabuya rescues and rehabilitates wildlife (monkeys, sloths, birds) and takes volunteers; it is the number for an injured howler rather than a puppy.
Practical notes
Register with a Cobano clinic in your first week and ask for the after-hours protocol in writing. Keep the vaccination book and the microchip number on your phone. Buy tick prevention here rather than carrying a year's supply; it is cheaper and the clinics know which products the local ticks have stopped responding to. Fence the garden before you trust it; most rental houses have gaps a dog will find in a day. And carry the export certificate rule in your head from the start: a Cobano vet can issue the exit paperwork for a return flight, but the microchip has to be in before you land. Everything from the agrovet to the groomers is listed at the /directory/services hub.
FAQ
Is there a vet in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica?
Yes. Agroveterinaria Santa Teresa on the main road handles vaccines, consultations, tick and flea products and food, Monday to Saturday. For surgery, x-rays or hospitalisation, drive 25 minutes to Cobano, where Dog the Cat Veterinary Clinic (WhatsApp +506 2640 0946) and Veterinaria Nambí (+506 4080 7966) are full clinics.
Can I bring my dog to Costa Rica without quarantine?
Yes. Costa Rica has no quarantine when the paperwork is complete: a microchip (required since December 2025), rabies vaccination at least 21 days before travel, parasite treatment within 15 days, and a USDA-endorsed health certificate issued within 14 days of arrival. Pets in the cabin need no import permit; cargo shipments need one from SENASA.
Are dogs allowed on the beach in Santa Teresa?
In practice, yes, along the whole stretch from Playa Hermosa to Mal Pais, and you will see dogs on every sunset walk. Keep out of marked turtle nesting areas, and note that Cabo Blanco reserve does not admit pets. Walk at dawn or dusk from January to April, when the sand burns paws by mid-morning.
Are restaurants in Santa Teresa dog-friendly?
Most open-air restaurants on the main road allow a leashed dog at the table. Since 2025 Costa Rican businesses that admit pets must post a sign, require leashes, and provide waste bins, so ask before you sit and respect a "no perros" sign. Supermarkets do not admit dogs.
What is the biggest health risk for dogs in Santa Teresa?
Tick-borne disease. Ehrlichia canis, spread by the brown dog tick, is endemic, so every dog needs a monthly oral preventive and a check after each walk. Heat stroke, cane toad poisoning, and the main road are next. A blood test at the first sign of lethargy or bleeding gums catches ehrlichia early.
Where can I adopt a dog in Santa Teresa?
Through Amigos Perros de Nicoya, the volunteer group that runs the neutering campaigns and posts rescued puppies and adult dogs in the Santa Teresa community Facebook groups. It helped more than 1,020 animals in 2025 and aims for 2,000 neuterings in 2026; donations of $25 fund one operation via the Nicoya Peninsula Foundation.
