Taking your pets to Spain with you
Thanks to The Pet Travel Scheme (PETS), cats and dogs resident in the UK are allowed to visit Spain and return to the UK, without quarantine, provided that certain conditions are met.
There's quite a lot of preparation to do so it's best to discuss your plans with your vet as early as possible and allow at least seven months before your departure date. Also remember that only certain sea, air and rail routes are included in the scheme and you should check with the operator before booking.
Conditions of the Scheme
All cats and dogs must be:
- Fitted with a microchip that meets an ISO specification so that it can be read by a standard microchip reader.
- Vaccinated against rabies with an approved vaccine and have booster vaccinations as recommended. Pets must be at least three months old and be fitted with a microchip before they can be vaccinated.
- Blood tested about 30 days after vaccination. If you’re pet fails the blood test it will have to be vaccinated and tested again.
- Wait at least six months after a successful blood test result before being allowed entry or re-entry into the UK (unless your pet was resident in the UK and micro chipped, vaccinated and blood tested before 28th February 2000).
The documents you'll need:
- Export Health Certificate issued in the UK – this is in addition to the PETS scheme documents.
- The PETS re-entry certificate issued by a vet in the UK, certifying that the above conditions have been met before you travel.
- An official Certificate of Treatment against a potentially dangerous type of tapeworm and ticks, which must be carried out by a vet between 24 and 48 hours before re-entering the UK. This treatment has to be done each time you enter the UK.
- The Declaration of Residence which you will be asked to complete to declare that you’re pet has not been outside any of the qualifying countries in the six months before entering the UK. See: www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/index.htm
The costs:
You can get a pet passport and all the relevant paperwork from your local vet. The costs are about £200 (£25 for identity chip; £58 for rabies vaccination; £94 for blood test and £23 for health certificate).
Useful contacts
For more information, call the PETS Helpline on +44 (0)870 241 1710