Moving to Malaga area in 10 weeks with dogs

Hi I'm Lin and together with my husband Alan and three dogs we are moving to the Velez Malaga area in 10 weeks. We have booked our ferry crossing in timed to coincide with taking our house in May, and we are driving with some personal items and the dogs. I have read with interest the forums with regard to moving dogs to Spain. We have already got their passports organised and they have had their rabies shots. I understand that they have to be treated re fleas & ticks but I'm not sure of the timings on this? Also as we are driving through Spain my husband has now read that we have to keep the dogs caged whilst travelling in a car? Is this right? I thought that they had to be muzzled but I have not seen anything re being caged for car journeys?
Any help re this will be gratefully received.
Cheers
Lin

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 Hi Lin and Alan

Great to see you coming to Spain, I am sure you and your dogs will have a wonderful time. I have had dogs most of my time in Spain. I have always used a dog seat belt with my dog, which was a harness whihc had a belt attached and that clipped in like a seat belt, to make sure in case of a an accident the dog didin't come flying through the front seats. However having three I assume you will have them in a large boot. If the dog is in a the boot you should have a saftey barrier in place between the boot and the second row of seats. This is sufficient. They do not need to be in "cages". If they are travelling on the back seats, they should be "belted in". The law stipulates that dog must not be loose in the car and certainly should not be able to move into the driver's area. If you are caught with a dog loose in the car you could be fined up to 100€, it may be more now. If the dog is found in the front seat area you could be fined over 200€ and even charged with negligent driving. If they are secure in the boot with a protection barrier installed that is fine, it is a contained environment and safe for the driver and other passengers.

It is not necessary that wear a muzzle when travelling, nor infact is it necessary that they wear a muzzle when walking them through the street, unless you know you dog is going to do something it shouldn't or unless they are considered "dangerous breeds" such as pitbulls, rotweilers etc In whihc case they must be muzzled at all times and you must have an insurance policy to cover any incidents.

This is my understanding of the law and I have been stopped before and never fined. My dogs have always been Golden Retrievers, which do not need to wear a muzzle.

With ticks and fleas, they are more common in the summer period, I used parasite collars , the best one I found was "Scalibur" which costs 15 euros a collar, I've used them all, but this gave the best results. They last for approx. 6 months and worked very well. When the Summer comes along in June/July and August I always made sure I started around mid June with a new collar and gave him a  "Frontline" parasite treatment that comes in a monodose format. You put the liquid on the skin between the shoulders. Very good and effective, I did this in July and August in combination with the collar. (it will depend on the climate and the temperature, I am in Valencia, so in Malaga you may need to start a little ealier) The rest of the year, just the collar.  It is also important to get the yearly vaccine for Leishmaniosos, the disease passed on by mosquitos. This can be fatal and I have seen two dogs die from it, really horrible. This is very important as there are millions  mosquitos in Spain and possibilities are fairly high of being bitten by one. Go to your local vet as soon as you get settled in and programme the vaccine. It's not expensive and is done once a year just before the summer.

Hope this helps and welcome to Eye on Spain!! :)

Ian

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Tic treatment... is advisable but not mandatory for entry into EU countrie from other EU countries. However, treatment for Tapeworm is a pre-requisite. This treatment  must be administered by a vet and the date and time recorded in the Pet Passport in the Ecchinococcus treatment page. The animals must be transported no less than 24hrs and no more than 120 hours of this treatment.

Note that the Rabies shots, although they have a validity of 3 years in the UK, only have a one year validity in Spain and that it is a legal requirement that vaccination currency be maintained. Dogs may not be transported for 21 days after the revaccination if the currency of the previous injection was exceeded. Again the time and date of vaccinations and the valid until date should be recorded in the passport. This is particularly important if you should decide at any point to take the dogs back to England.

See this link for guiidance from DEFRA; the same rules apply across countries of the Europe Union.

http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-pets/pets/travel/pets/pet-owners/

Regarding Leishmaniasis... Scalibor collars offer protection against Leish which is on a par with the annual vaccination. There have been recorded cases where animals have suffered adverse and sometimes extreme reactions to the vaccination. Do a bit of research on the net. UK vets may not be fully aware of the condition as it is a very rare condition in the UK and where it is encountered is usually in animals that have been imported into the UK from affected countries which include Spain, Italy and Greece.

Scalibor collars act as an insect repllant / deterrent to the sandfly which carries the disease. The sandfly is actually a gross misnomer in that it isnt a fly at all and has little or nothing to do with sand. As Ian said its actually a type of mosquito and the manner in which it affects other animals is much the same as the malarial mosquito.

Hope this helps...

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Hi Ian
many thanks for your advice it is very helpful.

I am now looking into wether a cage in the boot area will be better than belting them into the back seats. Ideally the barrier to the boot would be the best for them, however we do want to bring a few boxes of things over so it will have to be what is practical all round.

maybe you could help me with something else?

We have Sky here in the Uk can I bring my Sky HD box to Spain and use it over there? will it receive all the channels that I can get here or do I have to subscribe to another service?

Cheers
Lin

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 Sorry can't help you with Sky, I don't have it. But there are many threads already open on the subject dealing with different aspects. 

Write SKY in the search box at the top right hand side of the screen and many options will come up!

 

good luck

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Thanks FB for your help. I'll get the flea treatment organised and order the collars.

Ian
I'll look up the sky information on here again thanks. I'm sure ill be on soon with more queries? Lol

Cheers
Lin

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