Which animals must be identified
Under Valencian Law 2/2023, dogs, cats, domestic ferrets (mustelids), birds and animals classed as potentially dangerous must be identified. Identification means a unique code (in practice, a microchip) plus registering the animal and its owner in the regional register, run by RIVIA (Registro Informático Valenciano de Identificación Animal) under the Valencian Council of Veterinary Colleges. A chipped animal that is not entered in any official database does not count as identified.
How microchipping and RIVIA registration work
- Only a registered (colegiado) vet may implant the chip. The vet checks that the animal is not already identified, and the owner proves their identity with a document.
- The same vet submits the registration online; RIVIA validates the data within 3 working days at most. The code is entered in the pet passport or health booklet, together with sterilisation status.
- Dogs, cats and ferrets must be identified before any transfer to another owner and before mandatory vaccinations.
- You can download the registration certificate from the RIVIA owners’ area (as a PDF or a card for Apple Wallet and Google Wallet). Keep your contact details up to date so a lost animal can be returned faster.
If you moved here with your pet
- From another EU country: keep the original EU pet passport — it may not be replaced with another document. The animal must be entered in RIVIA with your details from the moment you keep it. It must not be chipped again: the vet registers the existing code.
- Passports issued in other Spanish regions and in the EU are valid in the Valencian Community. Health booklets from other regions are valid, but if the animal stays here longer than 3 months it needs a Valencian-model booklet.
Rabies and deworming: mandatory
Order 3/2016 makes rabies vaccination mandatory for dogs, cats and ferrets, and deworming against echinococcosis mandatory for the same species. An authorised vet gives an inactivated vaccine approved by the Spanish medicines agency (AEMPS); for a dog, the vet first checks the chip and the register entry. Each vaccination gets a number (a sticker in the passport) that is recorded in RIVIA.
- According to a June 2026 note from the Ministry of Agriculture and AEMPS, rabies vaccines authorised in Spain protect for 1, 2 or 3 years — so the interval depends on the product. For travel outside the EU, your vet may require additional doses.
| What | When |
|---|---|
| First rabies vaccination | between 12 and 16 weeks of age |
| Booster | one year after the first |
| After that | at the interval set in the technical specifications of the last vaccine given |
| Deworming against echinococcosis | at least once a year, by a vet, recorded in the animal’s documents |
Loss, death, moving away, new owner
| Event | What to do and by when |
|---|---|
| The animal is lost or stolen | tell your vet or RIVIA within 72 hours and report it to the police; inform the town hall where you are registered within 48 hours |
| Death, or a move to another region or country | a signed notice to your vet within 3 working days; the vet deregisters the animal |
| New owner | the vet changes the owner in the register at the formal request of the old and new owners |
Out and about and on the beach
- Dogs must be walked on public roads on a lead shorter than 2 metres.
- Droppings must be picked up and the spot cleaned at once — on pavements, in parks and in shared areas.
- The law requires dogs and cats whose breeding you cannot control (for example, an animal that roams outside and meets others) to be sterilised, unless a vet advises otherwise.
- Dog rules for the beaches of Torrevieja, Orihuela Costa and Guardamar are in a separate guide; Santa Pola’s dog beach is covered in our Santa Pola guide.