How difficult is it bringing pets with us?

Thanks all for all the geat advise , I feel happy now in knowing we can make the move with the rest of the family.

We came over with our dogs via the Tunnel and drove all the way without an overnight stay, there are many hotels enroute who accept pets if you want to stop off anywhere. We travelled back the same way last year for a quick visit, our vet gave us sedation tabs for the dogs and they slept most of the way, we then returned with our bigger dog, Dogue De Bordeaux, with sedation and he was fine, he settles in very well. You do of course need a Pet Passport and certain injections.

We are travelling over to Spain in Beginning of February, looking for pet friendly hotel near Madrid as we are taking the ferry from Portsmouth to Santander - can anyone give us the best route which would suit this trip

Many thanks
Magspatti

Sandra please check with vet,you,ll need some different injections here,sand flies ( lieshmans) heart worm,please be aware of the procession caterpillars ( live in pine trees) they start this time of year.My ten year old x terrier is having the time of his life he's like a puppy now so much more healthier.beware of police on the beach at certain times of year

Magspatti I stopped at an ibis hotel at Madrid ,I personally think I should of driven another two hours further.they allow dogs and are ok.they are good roads all the way.

Hi all, This information might be a bit old, we drove over, vía the tunnel just over 10 years ago, we had a collie that was manic in the car, so we had him flown over, ( info supplied by San Antons vet in Guardamar) no problem at all, delivered to our new house in Spain by a Mercedes estate car! Our two older small dogs we drove over in our car, we took three days to come over as they had several breaks and found dog friendly hotel sin France. The only problem we had we were robbed at a motorway service station in Spain. Also get your pet passports sorted in good time.

Thanks All, its great to have all this advice and to know even a manic collie made it over , unfortunately we are now down to 1 cat only Bobbie , when we returned from our holiday in September , my parents were staying at our place looking after the pets unfortunately the one cat Bobby had been knocked over on the Friday survived but had to have his front leg amputated and on the next day as we arrived home the other brother Jasper we unfortunately found dead on the road , the worst part of this is we live in a rural location with little traffic !! so I guess my next question to the expat cast and owners will Bobbie who still loves to be outside be fit enough to survive in Quesada ? Dogs are much easier than cats at least you can keep them in the garden but after reading gas plumbman,s post there are a few things any responsible pet owners need to be aware of so again thanks for the info, Gasplumbman is your name relevant to your job title ? we may be looking for somebody to commission our boiler later in the year let me know if this is the case

Thanks

Sandra
Roll on the end of March for our next visit.

Sorry to hear of your cats' misfortunes.
We brought our elderly cat with us via Santander and drove to quesada in one day (we had a furniture van arriving!).
No real problems with the journey...she was not impressed with having to stay in the car overnight .... there are kennels on-board for dogs.
While she was here we used to keep her inside ... she'd have liked to explore, I'm sure, but we felt there were too many hazards for her to cope with .... roads, feral cats, caterpillars, etc.
She seemed quite happy to be a 'house cat', and even tolerated the new puppy who arrived soon after. She lived to 18 and then just faded-away.

Good luck!