Veterinary costs in Spain tend to sit at a comparable or somewhat lower level than in the UK, which can lull owners into skipping travel insurance altogether. A routine consultation is genuinely affordable by comparison, but a real emergency — heatstroke requiring intensive cooling and fluids, or ongoing treatment for canine leishmaniasis, both covered in their own articles in this section — can still run into a significant bill.
If your existing pet insurance is domestic-only from your home country, check specifically whether it extends to veterinary treatment received elsewhere in the EU — some policies limit cover to a single country, or exclude a condition like leishmaniasis entirely if it's treated as a regional disease risk rather than a standard illness.
Keep the policy documents and an emergency claims number somewhere accessible that doesn't depend on a single device staying charged. Most policies, as elsewhere, expect you to pay the vet directly and claim reimbursement afterward, so budget for the upfront cost regardless of what the policy ultimately covers.