Sorry if this question has been asked before, I tried search but couldn’t find anything.

We were supposed to be moving to Spain a few months ago,but our tenanted house became a huge problem. We are now in the process of selling it, so here’s hoping that we will be there next month.

Anyway, we have a little dog chipped, with passport, my question is,  is there any medicatation she should have on a regualr basis to prevent her from being ill? For instance I know in the Southern states of America, dogs have to have a monthy heartworm pill because of the mosquitos.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Bonnie…Hi

No special medications are required.

In the UK and America animals, like humans are generally being over-medicated in order to keep ‘Big Pharma’ in business..

Rabies shots (mandatory) and the ‘triples’ administered annually in the UK (optional) are biennial in Spain.

Just make sure that the passport is kept up to date.

Before you can re-enter the UK the dog must receive Drontal or Zipyran worming treatment at the embarkation port within 24hrs of departure. There are vets located at each French and Spanish embarkation port.

Normally Worming and Tic tablets like Drontal or Zipyran should be given annually. Our vet supplies these free.

Medications like Frontline and / or Stronghold are available over here.

Vets over here are as good if not better than some UK vets and generally much cheaper.

We have three dogs, A Saluki, a Greyhound and a pot bellied Spanish rescue dog and in the near five years we have been here trips to the vet have normally been brought about by kidney infections or UTI’s. When our male Saluki had a kidney infection, daily visits to the vets over a period of 1 week for antibiotics and anti-inflammatory injections resulted in a total bill of just 45?.. In the UK it would have cost that much just to open the door of the surgery…!

The normally prescribed antibiotic is amoxycillin; Synulox which is the normally prescribed antibiotic in the UK is not generally available over here. The vet will generally issue a prescription for any required medication and this should be taken to a normal pharmacia for dispensing. So you pay the vet for the diagnosis and treatment and the pharmacia for prescribed medication. As with the vets, the pharmacias are much cheaper than the chemists in the UK.

Hope this helps put your mind at ease.

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Thanks for your reply. We rescued our dog from America and she had to have severe treatment for heart worm, contracted whilst she was living rough. Dogs need the heart worm treatment monthly to prevent this from happening as it is life threatening. That said, I do agree that medication is overly subscribed. I just wondered as it is hot ,whether there was a risk of something similar, good to know there is not. It’s also good to hear that vets are much cheaper in Spain, they certainly were in the US.

The dog has her passport up to date, we took her to Spain last year and found a vet in France at just the right distance away for the critera for gettting the ferry back to England, not too expensive either.

Thanks again.