Moving pets to spain — EU entry requirements, microchipping, vaccinations, health certificates, timing and what to expect at the border with dogs and cats.
As we were just renewing our auto, home and umbrella liability insurance policies for the remaining months we have in the states, we wondered should we keep our US liability insurance after moving to Spain? After we did our research it appears for us and most people the answer is no. Not because it stops being useful, but because it stops working the way you'd expect long before you'd think to cancel it.
Watch two restaurant terraces on the same village street for an afternoon and you'll see it. One server greets a dog with a water bowl already in hand, the next points at a non-existent sign and shrugs. Both reactions are common and both come from the same source. A law that changed the rules in 2023 without notifying the businesses affected by it. That inconsistency is the whole story of dogs in shops, restaurants and beaches in Spain. This post will save you an awkward moment or two once you're settled in Spain.
Leishmania in Spain is one of the first things any dog owner should research before making the move — and one of the last things most Americans think to look up. It's not something most of us have ever encountered back home, but in Spain it's endemic, it's serious, and it catches expat dog owners off guard with regularity.