So did I, until I read the link!!

Seems like they just change the rules to make as much money as they can. ;-(

I suppose the rules have changed in the 3 1/2 years since we came......... then, a passport wasn't required for entry, and neither was a chip.

The chip surprises me, because according to the poster in our local vets, dogs are required to be chipped here in spain, but cats aren't.

Hi,

I spoke to my vet a few weeks ago about it. Cats do need to be chipped. They also need to be up to date with their normal vaccinations(some people don't have these done each year) and be vaccinated against rabies. 21 days after the vaccination they take a blood test and send it off to government labs. This test can take 6-8 weeks to come back.

Your cat can't then leave Spain until 6 months have passed since the pass date of the test.

Budget airlines won't take. I'm still in the initial stage of booking my flights at the moment, but Iberia and Britishairways will be the choice.

The trip to the vets cost me £85. Included chip, booster vaccination, rabies vaccination.

I think they also have some tablets you can give your cat to relax them on the way out, I will check that next week when I'm back there.

I am sure cats only need the blood test following the rabies vaccination if they will be returning to Britain, otherwise it's just the rabies vaccination at least 21 days before entering Spain.

The UK vets are short of money, so will sell you anything.... needed or not. ;-)

I'm just talking about the cats living here in spain......not travelling backwards & forwards

We had to have ours chipped & vaccinated against rabbies, and get pet passports before we could take them out of the U.K.
I guess, it might depend on the Airport your leaving from, but I would definitely check beforehand to be on the safe side.
Regards

It doesn't take 7 months thats only if you want to bring him back, length of time for a passport, if your not returning you only need to export, and get a letter from your vet saying he's fit for travel. I think if hes old he would be more stressed at having to live with strangers than what he would on a 2.5 hour flight. would probably sleep most of the way. to make sure he feels at home before you let him out in his new area he should stay indoors for at least 3 weeks. You vet would give you advice free over the phone and of course there is defra.

thats true

the animal needs to be chipped for a passport to be issued, cat or dog. The microchip no is the animals identification. Can't really have a photo like we do as all poodles look the same ect and you could be taking an animal that has not had rabis vacc. Its not the vets that makes the rules it is the government and defra i think

Don't think you need a passport to leave uk just to return

Thats what I said, they will still sell it to you even if you dont need it to get to Spain.

Where I work we wouldn't sell a passport to someone who didn't need it. But would recomend one if there was any question of return. We recomend microchipping whether you want a passport or not. You'd be supprised how many dead or lost animals we get in in a week or people ringing to see if anyones found their cat. People pay hundreds of pounds for animals then won't pay £20.00 for a microchip we have clients who have found their dogs or got them from rescue centres and they are pedigree dogs that will have cost someone a lot of money and heartache when they went missing

I can confirm that ... we were well and truly stuffed at £180 for passport chip & blood tests ... even the tunnel stuffed us for charging for the cat on the way out when I shouldn't have been paid. In short we were had over and then the cat died 3 months after we got here