Can your pet travel before or after you?

Key rules

• Travel window: Your pet must travel with you or within five days of your own trip to stay non-commercial.
• Written authorisation: If someone else brings your pet, you must sign a written authorisation naming your pet and that person.
• Health papers: The health certificate or pet passport must be completed to match who actually travels with the pet.
• Later travel: A pet travelling outside the window can fall under the commercial rules.

The short answer

Your pet should travel with you. If it can't, it must move no more than five days before or after you, and the person bringing it needs your written authorisation. Otherwise the trip can be treated as a commercial movement, with stricter rules.

Travelling with someone else

If another person brings your pet, they are acting on your behalf. That person needs:

• A written authorisation that you sign. It names your pet and the person travelling with it.
• The pet's documents, shown together with the authorisation.
• An EU health certificate or pet passport completed to fit this arrangement, so it matches the person who actually travels with the pet.

The documents list below gives the details.

The five-day window

The five days count from your own trip, before or after it. Inside that window, with your authorisation, the movement counts as non-commercial.

If your pet will travel later than that, expect the commercial rules to apply. Ask the Spanish authorities what they require before you book anything.

Why people send a pet later

Following later makes sense if:

• You need to settle in first.
• Your pet's rabies or titre waiting period isn't finished.
• Airline seasonal restrictions apply.
• Your housing doesn't yet allow pets.

Expect a second transport cost, boarding or pet-sitting where you leave from, and often agent fees.

How many animals

The limit on animals per traveller is set out on the page about bringing pets: up to five dogs, cats or ferrets.

Choosing

The decision below helps you pick between travelling together, following within five days, or following later with an authorised person. The timeline shows the order of steps.

Choosing between options

Should your pet travel with you or follow later?

• Travel with you: Fits when your pet's vaccinations and paperwork are ready, the airline allows it and your housing accepts pets. It is the simplest route and avoids a second transport cost.

• Follow within five days with your written authorisation: Fits when you need to settle first or your pet is a few days behind. You pay a second transport cost and may need boarding or pet-sitting where you live now.

• Follow later with an authorised person: Fits when your pet's rabies or blood test waiting period is not complete, airline seasonal restrictions apply, or your housing does not yet allow pets.

Your pet counts as non-commercial if an authorised person travels with it, or if it travels within five days of you with your written authorisation. Otherwise the commercial rules can apply.

Check the current rules and costs for a pet travelling separately with the Spanish authorities.

Timeline and deadlines

• Sign the written authorisation for the person who will travel with your pet: before your pet travels

• Send your pet with the authorised person, carrying the authorisation and the pet's documents: no more than five days before or after your own travel

• If your pet will travel later than that, expect the commercial rules to apply and ask the Spanish authorities what is needed: more than five days before or after you travel, unless an authorised person goes with the pet

Documents you need

• Written authorisation from you, the owner, for the person who travels with your pet. You sign it. It names your pet and the authorised person, and they show it together with the pet's documents.

• The EU health certificate or pet passport, completed to match the arrangement, so it fits the person who actually travels with the pet.