Cats Going From UK to Spain
 

Hi. Before long we’ll be bringing two mature cats with us to Almeria. The trip is by car through France. If you have taken your cats to Spain and settled them with a Spanish vet, can you advise what the vet felt was necessary on arrival?

I’ve heard that there are vaccinations they’ll need there that are not needed in the UK. I hope someone may be able to advise on this.

They’re both very healthy strong cats and our UK vet is currently trying to boost his drug company shares by advising a cocktail of various chemicals pumped into them. That’s not our style, but we do want them to have what is legally needed and also anything necessary for their wellbeing.

Re: Cats Going From UK to Spain
 

Hi

I brought 2 cats to Spain from the UK - however its many years ago but I dont think the rules have changed at all.

I can remember contacting The Ministry of Agriculture Farms and Fisheries and following all the instructions to the letter only to find out that not one single person looked at any papers??

As for Spain and vets. In my experience the Vets here are really kind. So long as the cats have their vaccinations up to date then you dont need to do more until they expire.

Hope this helps

Beeba

Re: Cats Going From UK to Spain
 

Everything you need to know is here, we bought cats over, with Brittany Ferries, really helpful,
http://www.brittany-ferries.co.uk/in...articleid=3352

Re: Cats Going From UK to Spain
 

My daughter is bringing three cats over by road in the back of a Ford Mondeo with a toddler. I looked into flying them over to save them the trauma (on both sides) but that would cost 1000 GBP.

Re: Cats Going From UK to Spain
 

Hi,

I brought a cat from the UK to Spain about 18 months ago, Only thing needed was a valid Pet passport, complete with the Rabbies stamp and the fit to fly stamp. Rabbies for the spanish authorities and Fit to Fly for the airline.

Note if you don't have a pet passport yet it can take about two-three months to get because of the wait for the blood test.

I flew her from the UK to the Canaries (possibly a more relaxed regime than mainland spain!) Total cost was about £160 with Thomson fly - cheap/easy and you can use regional airports which are quicker than LGW or LHR.

Re: Cats Going From UK to Spain
 

I thought you only needed the results of the blood test to fly back to the UK as the UK is a rabies free zone! Thanks for the tip with Thomson Fly. I will look into it.

Re: Cats Going From UK to Spain
 

My UK vet would only issue the pet passport once the blood test results were back (incase the rabies shot hadn't taken and she needed another one - a rare occurence) and the nice man in Guardia Civil office at the airport here wanted to see the pet passport.

Thats another tip: when bringing your animal in its the Guardia Civil you want to stamp your documents here (To release the animal from the customs shed)and not the local or National police as I found out the hard way by visiting all the different offices and using my very limited Spanglish!

Re: Cats Going From UK to Spain
 

Hi, and thanks to all for the information posted.

Firstly, we are fairly certain we know what’s needed to travel to Spain via France.

I say ‘fairly certain’ because there always seems to be some ambiguity in the information supplied. For example Brittany Ferries on their help page talk a lot about ‘into the UK’ and in fact the requirements are different going the other way, especially if not intending to travel to and fro like us.

For a one way trip into EU territory the latest DEFRA rules say:
1) Micro chip the animal
2) Rabies inject the animal
3) Get pet passport filled in by vet to confirm 1 and 2.

Going into the EU mainland from the UK there’s no requirement for the serological (blood) test, but that definitely is needed for returning to the UK, as Chiclanagir confirms above.

It remains to be seen whether the ferry/tunnel carrier for example, has other requirements. From the earlier link, Brittany Ferries clearly refer to a check for the blood test entry in the pet passport. Does that mean that they’ll look for it on the outward journey, where it legally is not required as per the DEFRA website? In essence of course they can stop us travelling even if something is not legally required. I’d liken this to a restaurant requiring gentlemen to wear a tie.

I think when we know which of the short route ferries/tunnel we’re going for, we will go for email (ie: printable) confirmation of the exact requirements of that particular carrier in that direction of travel.

We’ll also need to ascertain exactly what the French customs are looking for, similarly the Spanish.

Re: Cats Going From UK to Spain
 

No, it's fine - we did Plymouth - Santander with Brittany Ferries, the dog only had the microchip / rabies / passport - NO blood test.

That said, I do recommend speaking to whichever operator you choose to confirm you have everything in place including correct documentation / transportation / etc as refusal at the port wouldn't be a great start to the journey! Every one has slightly different rules and regulations. Good luck :thumbup:

Re: Cats Going From UK to Spain
 

Twyntub, thanks for the confirmation on that.

Yes, refusal at any point would be a major disaster. As France and Spain have rabies there seems little point in any compulsory treatment. However, there’d be nothing at all in the pet passport then!

Does anyone know about the French entry procedure and the Spanish entry procedure? (via Calais and via E15 motorway at Le Perthus) I have heard of absolutely nobody (at times) at the Spanish entry point to check anything.

Re: Cats Going From UK to Spain
 

We have just gone over the French/Spanish border without any check whatsoever. This is due I am sure to the "freedom of borders" which of course doesn´t work when returning to the UK.

Re: Cats Going From UK to Spain
 

Thanks. We will be in an estate car, which obviously will attract less attention than a van or lorry.

Having everything correct is our policy on this. We’re not looking to avoid any rules. Our main concern is the poor moggies being delayed! We can understand breakdowns, delays and bureaucracy, they can’t.

Are there long queues at the border crossing? Does the traffic keep moving and they divert some vehicles in for attention?

Re: Cats Going From UK to Spain
 

There is no border control at Spanish-French border. There are toll booths on the highway if you take that route which is well recommended as the old road is very slow through villages. That is the whole point of the Schengen agreement - free borderless passage between all Schengen countries. You do get French and Spanish customs patrolling the roads either side of the border and pulling for spot checks but that is all.

Re: Cats Going From UK to Spain
 

Bringing 3 cats over later in the year by road. Each have had microchip and rabies injection and all were done at the same time. Two out of 3 passed blood tests and were given pet passports. Once we go to Spain they can return to UK 6 months after the date the successful blood test was taken.

Cat 3 - the youngest of the 3 -who did not pass his blood test has been retested and we are currently awaiting results - so it is not impossible for them to fail! If we took him out of the country without successful blood test then my understanding is that he would have to go into quarantine on the way back in the UK.

If he fails this latest blood test, he has to have rabies shot again and we go through the process again of waiting 1 month after injection for blood test. Moral of this story therefore is please don't assume that injection will be successful and will pass blood test.

Re: Cats Going From UK to Spain
 

Thanks El Capitan. Very useful information.

In our case Smudjer, we’ve no intention of taking the cats back to the UK.

You’re 100% right that in order to take them back you need the blood test results. Did it occur to you that if you wanted to return, those blood tests could be done in Spain? Our local vets want the best part of £100 for a test for each cat.

So you could simply travel with the failed one, and have it done later. You’d have to have the tick treatment and the echinococcus (tapeworm) treatment done for all of them anyway.

From what I’ve heard, Spanish vets are considerably cheaper than UK ones.