How do you arrange a pet passport from Spain to the UK

Any help information and advice most welcome. Also recommendations on transportation. Looks like I,m keeping this wee cat!!!!!!!!!! was not in the plans!!!!!! Just don't have the heart too leave this vulnerable cuddley wee girl in a country that perceives cats as "vermin" (apologies to cat lovers )

I so wish I could find a home for this pretty wee girl in her birth country of Spain, she is so affectionate, petite and vulnerable. Lives in our rented villa garden after the old man had been found dead by neighbours. We go back to UK in two weeks can anyone help PLEASE,PLEASE offer her a loving home. We have had her checked out by the vet and she is in good health was really skinny but after 8 weeks of regular food has filled out a bit. She is just a victim of a sudden death and it really breaks my heart!!!!!!!!! Can anyone offer her hope of a loving new home?

Any replies so appreciated Auds

Hi there, it's easy to get a passport for your animal.  Just take it to your vets who will fill out your details and give the appropriate injection.  You only pay for the injection and a blood test the passport is free in our area of Valencia.  The cat must be chipped as well.

good luck M x

Just as dogs require a passport, and hence a microchip, so must cats. See vet for rules and time spans regarding injections prior to journey.

We drove 2 dogs from Spain to the UK in 2009. We'd chipped and passported them and they were on a Spanish database. You have to find a vet in France by the tunnel to give a working pill just before the tunnel, within 24hrs of travel, and we did that too. problem when we got home, not possible to put new chips in and not possible to put their entry on UK databases until just this year when after asking RSPCA and PDSA for 6 years we finally found one. They are in the process of being done. Possibly had to as many returnees with chipped pets now.

We messed up with the 2 cats. We did rabies vaccinations so they'd not need quarantine but messed up dates for blood tests and were 3 months short so they had to be taken over by a specialist ££££££ firm and and had 3 months in quarantine. We did visit in that time, drove to Dover. They turned their backs on us.  They didn't speak to us for 3 months or so after we got them back and have never been true lap cats since. They finally began occasional lap visits this year!  

All the official information you require for getting her to the UK with you is here: https://www.gov.uk/take-pet-abroad/travel-within-the-eu

Your vet will explain anything you're unsure about.

I am not sure if you are aware that from January 2015 the laws changed re passports and vaccination and time limit.  We waited for this as I was a bit dubious but we tried it for the first time last April with our dog and our friends with their cats and thank god no worries! It was a simple procedure and all was very easy traveling so just ask at your local vets.

I'm guessing you don't want to take her home with you? I don't know whereabouts you are but there are a few groups on Facebook which will take cats & try to rehome them? Alternately, as other members have said, you could take her home. We were in a similar position as you 2 years ago, only our 'problem' was an elderly ginger tom. We got him chipped, passported, injected, arranged transport & took him home. All fairly straightforward, just expensive, but worth every penny.

Good luck, hope she finds a home who will love her as much as we love ours! 19 & still going strong.  

I'm guessing you don't want to take her home with you? I don't know whereabouts you are but there are a few groups on Facebook which will take cats & try to rehome them? Alternately, as other members have said, you could take her home. We were in a similar position as you 2 years ago, only our 'problem' was an elderly ginger tom. We got him chipped, passported, injected, arranged transport & took him home. All fairly straightforward, just expensive, but worth every penny.

Good luck, hope she finds a home who will love her as much as we love ours! 19 & still going strong.  

Thank you so much to the Forum for "flagging up my little cat in the garden" !!!! concerns,

I really appreciate this support not for me or mine but for this lovely wee cat who's owner just died and of course could not come back to feed or love and comfort her.

It's quite heartbreaking to pick up the pieces of a very distressed, starving , and yet lovlely wee cat when her lifeline has gone.

All work in progress but thanks so much to EOS.

Auds x

"You have to find a vet in France by the tunnel to give a working pill just before the tunnel, within 24hrs of travel"

This has changed for dogs. They now have to have a tapeworm pill between 1 and 5 days before travel, ie you can't get it done while waiting in France at the ferry. The  flea treatment seems to have fallen away.

Make sure you go through the passport entries with a toothcomb. Our vet had filled in the date of rabies shots, etc but had forgotten to fill in the box stating how long the shot was good for. Everything was covered in rubber stamps and we didn't notice...but they noticed it in Dunkirk and we had a heart stopper while they sent faxes to UK asking for guidance, etc.....finally allowed on the ferry just as it was about to cast off...my wife and I abusing each other for not checking, lol. (This was a week ago).

It's so easy.  Go with the pet to the vet and they will examine him/her, give it all the booster injections it requires for entering the uk and the worming tablet and microchip it and you will get the passport instantly.  It is that easy.  So much cheaper than the UK as well. 

As all above has said, it's a very easy thing to do. Making sure your pet, dogs especially, is well behaved while you're getting your passport checked is important too.

Travelling is stressful enough, and with animals more so. Whilst I agree that animals should be well behaved, it's not an entry requirement into the UK. The animal will be stressed too and they also have bad days, so don't be too alarmed if they play up. As long as you have complied with entry requirements you will all get in. 

A small underfed tortoiseshell kitten attached herself to us almost ten years ago when we were in Spain. Like you we could not leave her there. It was much more difficult to bring a pet back to the UK then with a longer quarantine after the rabies vaccination, and a need to get the pet wormed and treated for ticks between 24 and 48 hours before travel.Kitty had to stay in Spain three months after her rabies vaccination until we got a positive test result.

However, as has been emphasised it is now so easy. Kitty travels all over Europe with us now - back to Spain and UK. Loves it! You just need to keep up the rabies booster and no need to worm and treat cats for ticks before travel; although dogs need to be treated for tapeworm still.

I would highly recommend bringing this kitten back - we have had years of pleasure from our little stray and she adores the greenery of the UK.

Further details can be found at:DEFRA website.

Good luck and do let us know how you get on...