Spain pet travel requirements

Microchip (ISO 11784/11785)

The pet needs a microchip that meets ISO 11784 and 11785. If it doesn't, bring a reader that can read it. The chip must be implanted, or read, before the rabies vaccination.

Dogs / Cats / Ferrets

A clearly readable tattoo counts instead only if it was applied before 3 July 2011 and you can prove that date.

For intra-EU movements from 1 January 2028, the Commission explains the country-code microchip rule and exemptions: compliant identification before 22 April 2026 does not require re-chipping, and a short-stay non-EU resident pet may retain its national-rule chip. Have the veterinarian check the applicable identification route; do not automatically replace an existing chip.

Source: European Commission (DG SANTE) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: EUR-Lex (Official Journal of the European Union) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: French Ministry of Agriculture (DGAL), published by French Customs · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: European Commission, Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Rabies vaccination

An authorised or official vet vaccinates the pet against rabies. The pet must be at least 12 weeks old, and the vaccination must be on or after the day the microchip was implanted or read. A first (primary) vaccination becomes valid 21 days after it is completed. Keep it valid with boosters given before it runs out.

Dogs / Cats / Ferrets

Use the actual valid-until date recorded by the veterinarian for this vaccine and course. Duration follows the authorised product and certificate; the planner does not invent a one-year expiry when no expiry is supplied.

Record the current vaccination date and its actual valid-until date. Confirm continuous-booster status only when the complete records show every booster was given before the previous cover expired; then the primary-course 21-day waits do not restart. Unknown status is treated conservatively as primary or restarted cover.

If a vaccination ran out before the booster, the next shot counts as a new first vaccination: the 21-day wait and, where needed, the titer test start again.

Some vaccine makers set a longer wait than 21 days. The vet writes the 'valid from' date on the certificate; go by that.

Source: European Commission (DG SANTE) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: European Commission (DG SANTE) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: EUR-Lex (Official Journal of the European Union) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: French Ministry of Agriculture (DGAL), published by French Customs · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Rabies antibody (titer) test at an EU-approved lab

For primary or restarted cover, an authorised veterinarian takes the blood sample at least 30 days after vaccination. A documented continuously valid course need not wait another 30 days after each booster. A laboratory on the EU list must find at least 0.5 IU/ml. A copy of the lab report goes with the health certificate. The result stays valid for life as long as every booster is given on time. A previously passing, legally qualifying titer may predate the currently recorded booster if the full rabies cover remained continuous. The veterinarian must verify the earlier sample met its original vaccination interval, approved-laboratory and result requirements. Continuous-booster status does not waive those original requirements or preserve an old sample after a break in cover.

Dogs / Cats / Ferrets · Origin group: Not on the EU's list: titer test and a 90-day wait

Only labs on the EU list count. Check the list before the blood test.

A pet that lives in the EU and had the test before it left, recorded in its EU pet passport, doesn't need the 90-day wait when it comes back.

Keep the current booster date as the vaccination fact; do not replace it with an earlier primary date to force the timeline to accept an old sample. Supply the complete earlier vaccination and titer records to the certifying veterinarian.

Source: European Commission (DG SANTE) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: European Commission (DG SANTE) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: EUR-Lex (Official Journal of the European Union) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: French Ministry of Agriculture (DGAL), published by French Customs · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

EU animal health certificate (issued or endorsed within 10 days before arrival)

An official vet in the country you travel from issues the EU animal health certificate for a non-commercial move. If an authorised (private) vet fills it in, that country's veterinary authority must endorse it, and the 10-day window runs from the endorsement. You sign the declaration that the move isn't commercial, attached to the certificate. The certificate must be issued or endorsed no more than 10 days before you arrive at the EU entry check. Once the officials there have carried out the documentary and identity checks, it is valid for 6 months, or until the rabies vaccination expires, whichever is earlier.

Dogs / Cats / Ferrets · Origin group: On the EU's list: no titer test, but an entry check at a travellers' point of entry / Not on the EU's list: titer test and a 90-day wait

The 10 days is the window for issuing or endorsing the certificate, not how long it stays valid (Article 18(1), second subparagraph): it is valid for 6 months from the documentary and identity checks at the point of entry, or until the rabies vaccination expires, whichever is earlier.

The EU lets the certificate be issued or endorsed up to 10 days before the entry check; GOV.UK counts the issue day as day 1. We plan by that stricter count, one day shorter.

By sea, the 10-day window is extended by the length of the crossing. This plan doesn't add that time.

Use the current model in Regulation 2026/705 Annex III for a certificate issued now. The Commission confirms that an older-model certificate must have been issued before 1 October 2026. If relying on such an earlier certificate, confirm its remaining transitional acceptance with the competent authority.

The certificate must be in an official language of the EU country you enter, and in English.

If someone else carries the pet for you, they must travel within 5 days before or after you, with your signed declaration.

If the pet changes planes in a country not on the EU list, add the transit declaration: it stayed inside the airport or the vehicle and had no contact with animals that can carry rabies.

A pet that lives in the EU can come back on its EU pet passport instead, if the passport was filled in before it left. A booster or titer test done outside the EU means it needs this certificate.

EU animal health certificate for the non-commercial entry of dogs, cats and ferrets (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/705, Annex III, Part 1) Owner's declarations: non-commercial movement, authorised person and transit (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/705, Annex V, Parts 1, 2 and 5)

Source: European Commission (DG SANTE) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: EUR-Lex (Official Journal of the European Union) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: EUR-Lex (Official Journal of the European Union) · Checked Oct 21, 2026

Source: French Ministry of Agriculture (DGAL), published by French Customs · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Pet passport with the microchip and rabies vaccination recorded

Between EU countries a pet travels on an EU pet passport issued by an authorised vet, showing the microchip and the rabies vaccination. From Andorra, the Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Greenland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, Switzerland or Vatican City, a pet passport issued there works too. There's no titer test and no entry check.

Dogs / Cats / Ferrets · Origin group: Another EU country or Norway: EU pet passport, no entry check / Country with EU-equivalent rules (e.g. Switzerland): no titer test, no entry check

Without a passport from one of these countries, the pet needs the EU animal health certificate instead, issued or endorsed no more than 10 days before arrival and valid for 6 months from the entry check.

Passports on the older model (Regulation 577/2013) issued before 1 January 2028 are still accepted.

Some EU countries let in young pets from other EU countries before their rabies vaccination is valid. This plan doesn't use that exception.

If someone else carries the pet for you, they must travel within 5 days before or after you, with your signed declaration.

The Commission distinguishes short trips by an EU-resident pet from an owner/pet living for an extended period outside the EU. An old EU passport is not a substitute for an animal health certificate when a non-EU-resident pet is moving back; EU passports held by Great Britain residents are also not valid for GB-to-EU entry. Confirm residence and document eligibility rather than relying only on where a passport was originally issued.

Source: European Commission (DG SANTE) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: European Commission (DG SANTE) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: European Commission, Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Travel on to other EU countries within 6 months

After the entry check, the same certificate covers travel to other EU countries for 6 months, or until the rabies vaccination runs out if that's sooner.

Dogs / Cats / Ferrets · Origin group: On the EU's list: no titer test, but an entry check at a travellers' point of entry / Not on the EU's list: titer test and a 90-day wait

If the rabies vaccination runs out before the 6 months are up, the certificate ends with it. This window doesn't show that.

The rules don't say whether the last day itself still counts.

Source: European Commission (DG SANTE) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: EUR-Lex (Official Journal of the European Union) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: French Ministry of Agriculture (DGAL), published by French Customs · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Declare your pet to the Guardia Civil or customs on arrival

At the entry point, declare to the Guardia Civil fiscal guard (Resguardo Fiscal) or authorised customs staff that you're carrying a pet and show the papers; they check the documents and read the microchip. No appointment is needed. Entering at a port that isn't on Spain's list means the pet is sent back to where it came from.

Dogs / Cats / Ferrets · Origin group: On the EU's list: no titer test, but an entry check at a travellers' point of entry / Not on the EU's list: titer test and a 90-day wait

A pet that doesn't meet the rules may be quarantined, sent back or (last resort) put down, at your cost.

The health certificate must be in Spanish and English.

Source: Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA) · Checked Nov 12, 2026

Source: Spanish Tax Agency (AEAT), customs · Checked Oct 26, 2026