crazy horsey lady

We are moving to Alicante in August and want to bring the beloved family cat.
Can you please tell me what I need to do?
Can I bring him on a plane or does he have to travel with specialists?

Any help appreciated
CHL

Porth

We moved both from France to Spain and then Spain to the UK with our three cats. Quite obviously all injections and the like must be up to date.

I simply do not know about planes but most certainly they can travel with you on a ferry but check their rules and regulations.

However we chose (and here no financial relationship with the company) Posh Pets travel and they were superb. Just look at their web site and for balance there are other competing organisations

Fredbargate

I would recommend

http://www.jets4pets.com/

There is a family connection

flotsum

We brought our cat over. Needed pet passport, (injections, worming, rabies,chip and blood test) We brought her in the car on the santandar route from plymouth. There were est times that we were allowed to go and see her in the hold. We were bringing a car over anyway and I wanted all our paperwork and computer not to go into storage so we combined moving her over at the same time. We bought a large rabbit hutch and this fitted her bed and a small dirt box and gave her room to move. She was 18 at the time and loved her trip through spain looking out the window! It cost 600 pounds for the car two people and the cat. My friend moved her cat via plane to Alicante it cost 500 pounds, and the cat basket came out on the luggage belt!

NadiaN

I brought my cat with me from Canada when I moved here. He flew in the cabin with me, in a soft-sided carrier. The requirements for entry were not too bad - he had to have his rabies shot up to date, to be micro-chipped, and to have a health check certificate issued a couple of weeks before the flight.

For a cat coming from another EU country it should be even easier. Just get a European Pet Passport from your vet. When we arrived in Spain, on going through customs no one even asked to see any of my cat's paperwork, even though we were coming from Canada...

I would never have my cat fly as cargo if I can help it. I've read too many horror stories of what can go wrong.

While I did not have any problems bringing my cat into Spain, the flights (we had to change planes twice) were pretty stressful for him. Going through the security check and scanner, I had to take him out of his carrier and carry him in my arms through the metal detector. He is afraid of strangers, and being pulled out of the carrier really upset him. He refused to eat or drink for 24 hours during and after the flights from Canada, poor baby.

I would say, if you have the choice, bringing your cats by car might be easiest on them. Unless the ferry crossing is rough...

jjh

If you use Posh Pets then it´s unlikely they will do pet transport in July and August. Even though they have an air conditioned carrier, the pets come first and it´s far too hot.

Porth

I had not thought that through. You are absolutely spot in. They moved us in April and October.

jjh

They moved Dolly in October and I remember seeing it on their website when I was looking into her transport.