My dog has had a rabies vaccination that is good for 3 years. Most are now.
This is of course for re-entry to the UK.

You may find that an annual jab is now required in Spain depending on your area.

Our cats need an annual jab.

Check with your vet.

Where I live near Sevilla, rabies vaccination only lasts for a year. I keep my dog up to date as you never know when you may want/have to travel.

Do any countries other than the UK check passports?
My dog has a passport issued in the UK accredited by DEFRA which states he will require a rabies booster at 3 years and that satisfies the conditions for him to re enter the UK. I am treating him as an English dog visiting Europe and will rely on his vet in the UK to keep him healthy and fit to travel.

There is claimed evidence regarding medical problems for dogs following rabies jab.
Mostly this swings around the same size jab irrespective of dog with a yorkie getting the same size injection as a Saint Bernard

there many references on Google, so is the yearly jab offered in Spain the same size as the 3yr offered in UK and US ???

Very true.
I've often wondered what would happen if I got to the ferry port and found the sailing was put back to the following day.
Would they insist on another treatment, in which case the pets would have had a double dose and possibly a wait at the port for up to another two days ?
Extreme inconvenience and unnecessary expense methinks.

Regarding your question about checks, I've passed through almost every EU country, some quite a few times, in recent years and the only times my dog and pet passport have ever been checked out was prior to entering the UK.

Last time I left Santander the Spanish guy at check-in simply waved the scanner in the general direction of my dog without even getting a reading and passed me through.

I remember when I came over with my dog, she was a puppy then, they scanned her in the UK, but never even checked the papers or anything in Spain...

and the strange thing about bringing the animals over, was ringing the ferry company and being told that rabbits were not allowed on the ferry (a french one) as sailors regarded them as bad luck and would not let them onboard.... hmmm.... we hid them in the back of the horse trailer, in a huge cage.... and no one checked... phew, daughter would of been gutted if we had left them, (BTW.. you are allowed to bring them into Spain and I did have all the DEFRA/vet paperwork for them)

years ago I brought a cat from the UK. Flew with Iberia and was allowed to take her in the cabin with me. Just carried her through like hand baggage and was not asked for the papers. I also flew Spain to Holland with a dog in the cabin.

I am due to go for annual visit with the vet this month. I will ask that question about size of dog. I don't agree with administering live vaccine if it is not needed. Or any medication for that matter. I had intended to try and make tic and tapeworm treatment in France come into his routine and not extras. There are French vets who will administer your medication and sign the passport. I believe the 6 month wait after rabies jab was in place to allow the animal to build up enough antibodies before returning into the UK.

Hi, my dog is due for her injections and like yourself i am going to ask relevant questions , as seems such a drastic change in law , albeit very convenient for ourselves making plans to go back to the uk. My dog has a passport which contains all her up to date injections etc and her chip code, but one of my friends who took a dog back by car from ibiza to england went through the six month procedure and everything was in order albeit when they reached french border there was a big enquiry into the passport as our vet always writes after you have visited for injections the date of the next one due and they called that doctering a legal document????? however after alot of grovelling they were allowed through , has anyone else heard of this because my book has seven years of vets writing in it , only a date but authorities said only acceptable thing is a vet stamp not any writing , i am also going to query this with the vet albeit would be very hard to ammend now.

we had our dog´s passport issued in Hong Kong, which was checked when she arrived in the UK. We had to get her a new Spanish one when we arrived here and a new microchip as her HK chip could not be read by Spanish scanners. Ther vaccination records were accepted, but a newchip was required

We have a cat that was chipped in Cyprus when chips were first introduced about 14 years ago.

His chip was read OK in Spain and it was then registered on the Spanish database.

How do you register on the database Fred?

We brought our cat with us from England four years ago, she has her passport and is chipped and her injections are up to date... but she isn't registered here in Spain.
We have no intention of going back so she doesn't really need her passport now, but I do like to have everything as it should be here.

Your vet will scan the chip and give you a Spanish pet passport with the data on it. He should also register it for you.

Thanks for that Fred.
As my cat won't be going back to England she doesn't need a new passport, my vet has never scanned her or suggested registering her either....I'll have to mention it next time.