Breeding of dogs and cats

Verified 31 May 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

The breeding of dogs or cats is the activity consisting in hold at least 1 female reproductive and to sell at least 1 puppy or 1 kitten born of this female. Any person engaged in that activity shall be a professional breeder and is subject to set of obligations that we present to you.

The steps to be taken as a breeder before any sale of an animal vary depending on whether you sell a single litter per year or at least 2 litters per year.

Répondez aux questions successives et les réponses s’afficheront automatiquement

You sell only one litter per year

Declaration of your breeding activity

You are exempt from declaring the creation of your livestock to the chamber of agriculture if you fill the following 3 conditions :

  • You produce only purebred dogs or cats which you enter in herd books (LOF - Book of Origins French - or LOOF - Official Book of Cat Origins)
  • And you don't sell no more than one litter of puppies or kittens per year and per tax household
  • And you declare to herd books all litters from the dogs or cats you keep and each scope has a specific number.

When you offer an animal for sale, you must obligatory indicate in your advertisement the registration number of the breeding book litter to which the proposed animal belongs.

If you do not produce only purebred animals registered to the LOF or LOOF and therefore do not fulfill the previous conditions, you must, before any sale, declare the creation of your livestock to the chamber of agriculture.

To do this, you must file a declaration of the creation of an agricultural company with the electronic company formalities window.

Company Formalities Window

Following this declaration, your farm is entered in the register Sirene: titleContent and you get a Siren number and a Siret number. When you offer an animal for sale, you must obligatory mention in your listing your Siren and Siret numbers.

Please note

Failure to make a declaration shall be punishable by a fine of €30,000.

Statement at Icad

You must submit the national domestic carnivore identification file (Icad) on number of animals kept, by species, on your premises and in your reception capacity of these animals.

You must also provide the following information for each dog or cat held:

  • Reason for its entry and provenance
  • Reason for leaving your farm and its destination
  • General condition when entering and leaving your premises and veterinary certificate
  • Any information about a suspected rabies infection
  • Whether it's sterilized or not.

National base of operators - Dogs, cats and ferrets

Appointment of a health veterinarian

Whether or not you produce purebred animals registered with the LOF or the LOOF, you must appoint a veterinary health officer.

The declaration shall be made by means of the cerfa form No 15983:

Designation of the animal health veterinarian by the animal keeper

It is to be sent to the DDPP: titleContent or the DDETSPP: titleContent of the department of the place of rearing:

Health Regulations

You must establish, in collaboration with your health veterinarian, a health regulation to safeguard animal health and welfare, public health and, where appropriate, the hygiene of your personnel.

You need to get it done at least twice a year a visit to your premises by the health veterinarian.

You must inform the veterinary surgeon immediately of any abnormal mortality or repeated morbidity of the animals.

Installations complying with animal health and protection rules

Your breeding activity must be carried out in premises whose layout and operation are in accordance with animal health and protection rules.

Mandatory records

Whether or not you produce purebred animals registered with the LOF or the LOOF, you must keep up to date and be able to submit the following records at any request of the veterinary services:

  • Register of entry and exit of animals, containing the name and address of the owners
  • Animal health and health monitoring register, including information on sick or injured animals, reports of visits, and indications and proposals from your health veterinarian.
Obligation to train

You must complete one of them the following 2 training conditions:

  • Have a professional certification
  • Having followed a training to acquire knowledge of the biological, physiological, behavioral and maintenance needs of cats and dogs and to have a certificate of knowledge.

You sell 2 or more litters per year

Statement to the Chamber of Agriculture

Before any sale, you must declare the creation of your livestock to the chamber of agriculture.

To do this, you must file a dossier for declaring the establishment of an agricultural company to the electronic company formalities window.

Company Formalities Window

Following this declaration, your farm is entered in the register Sirene: titleContent and you get a Siren number and a Siret number.

When you offer an animal for sale, you must obligatory mention in your listing your Siren and Siret numbers.

Please note

Lack of reporting to the register Sirene: titleContent is liable to a fine of €30,000.

Statement at Icad

You must transmit to the national file for the identification of domestic carnivores (Icad) the number of animals kept, by species, on your premises and your capacity to receive these animals.

You must also provide the following information for each dog or cat held:

  • Reason for its entry and provenance
  • Reason for leaving your farm and its destination
  • General condition when entering and leaving your premises and veterinary certificate
  • Any information about a suspected rabies infection
  • Whether it's sterilized or not.

National base of operators - Dogs, cats and ferrets

Appointment of a health veterinarian

You must appoint a veterinary health officer.

The declaration shall be made by means of the form cerfa n°15983 at the DDPP: titleContent or the DDETSPP: titleContent from your department:

Designation of the animal health veterinarian by the animal keeper

Declaration to the Prefecture (DDPP: titleContent or DDETSPP: titleContent)

You must register at the DDPP: titleContent or the DDETSPP: titleContent of the department in which your breeding will be located at least 30 days before any sale of animals.

The declaration is made online or by post.

Online Declaration

Declaration of activity - Professional engaged in activities related to domestic pets

Reporting by mail

Declaration of activity - Professional engaged in activities related to domestic pets

You must attach to your declaration the designation form for your health veterinarian.

If you file your return online, you must scan or photograph it and attach it to your return.

If you file your return by mail, you must attach it to your activity report form.

Please note

Lack of reporting to the DDPP: titleContent or the DDETSPP: titleContent is liable to a fine of €30,000.

Health Regulations

You must establish, in collaboration with your health veterinarian, a health regulation to safeguard the health and welfare of animals and public health and, where appropriate, the hygiene of your personnel.

You need to get it done at least twice a year a visit to your premises by the health veterinarian.

You must inform the veterinary surgeon immediately of any abnormal mortality or repeated morbidity of the animals.

Installations complying with animal health and protection rules

Your breeding activity must be carried out in premises whose layout and operation are in accordance with animal health and protection rules.

Mandatory records

You must keep up to date and be able to submit the following records whenever requested by the veterinary services:

  • Register of animals entering and leaving, including the name and address of the owners
  • Animal health and health monitoring register, including information on sick or injured animals, reports of visits, and indications and proposals from your veterinary surgeon.
Obligation to train

You must complete one of them the following 2 training conditions:

  • Have a professional certification
  • Having followed a training to acquire knowledge of the biological, physiological, behavioral and maintenance needs of cats and dogs and to have a certificate of knowledge.

Prohibition on handing over an animal to a minor

It is forbidden to sell (or give away) an animal to a minor without parental consent or persons exercising theparental authority.

Minimum age of the animal

A puppy or kitten must be older than 8 weeks (more than 2 months) to be sold.

Identification of the animal

The cat or dog must must be identified by electronic chip (or tattoo) and recorded in the national identification file for domestic carnivores (Icad).

A dog or a cat cannot be given away without being identified.

FYI  

The identification obligation shall apply regardless of the mode and location of acquisition, whether the animal is disposed of in return for payment or free of charge to a breeder, a seller, an animal protection association or an individual.

The identification must be made at your expense before the transfer of the animal.

Identification shall be carried out by an approved veterinarian or tattoo artist.

The identification allows the animal to be assigned a unique number and the name and address of its owner to be recorded in the national file for the identification of domestic carnivores (Icad).

Animal identification allows identification and contact with the owner if the animal is found after being lost or stolen. It is also a guarantee of its origin and a means of combating trafficking.

The veterinarian who carries out the identification shall immediately issue you with a provisional certificate of identification.

It shall also inform the national file for the identification of domestic carnivores of this identification within 8 days.

The national file for the identification of domestic carnivores establishes and transmits to you the definitive identification card of your animal.

You must:

  • Deliver immediately to the new owner a document certifying identification of the animal
  • And address within 8 days the national register for the identification of domestic carnivores with the document attesting the change of holder.

What information should be included in an offer to sell a cat or dog?

Offers for the online (internet) sale of pets are prohibited.

However, some websites may offer online sales of pets (cat, dog, other) provided that they are presented in a pet-specific heading.

Only the breeders and salespeople may broadcast on the internet of announcements to offer cats and dogs for sale (for a fee).

Reminder

An individual cannot post an advertisement on the Internet to sell a dog or cat, whether the animal is young or adult.

A seller is a professional who sells an animal whose mother is not his.

Any offer shall contain the following information :

  • Scientific and vernacular names of the species, breed and variety to which the animal belongs
  • Sex of animal
  • Place of birth
  • Number of breeding females on the farm and number of litters of these females in the past year
  • Animal identification number
  • Age of the animal
  • Entry or absence of entry of the animal in a herd book (LOOF or LOF), and possibly: identification number of the female which gave birth to the proposed animal and number of animals in the litter
  • Siren and Siret numbers of your breeding operation, or if you are a breeder not subject to the obligation to declare in the SIRENE register, the entry number of the breeding book to which the proposed animal belongs
  • Price of the animal.

The public communication service or the advertiser shall verify that the mandatory information mentioned above is included in your advertisement.

It shall also verify the identity of the owner of the animal and that the mandatory information in the advertisement is in line with the entries recorded in the national file for the identification of domestic carnivores (Icad).

The advertisement shall include the verified listing.

Certificate of Commitment and Knowledge

You must have the buyer sign a certificate of commitment and knowledge of the specific needs of the species and keep a copy.

You have to wait at least 7 days after the signature of the commitment certificate by the potential buyer to transfer the cat or dog.

This certificate of commitment shall:

  • Specifies the physiological, behavioral and medical needs of the animal
  • Recalls the obligations relating to the identification of the animal.
  • Indicate the financial and logistical implications of meeting the physiological, behavioral and medical needs of the animal throughout its life.

The certificate of engagement and knowledge shall include a purchaser's handwritten notice by which he expressly undertakes to respect the needs of the animal.

Please note

The certificate of commitment and knowledge must be issued by a person who holds the Acaced or one of its equivalents.

Documents to be given to the buyer 

You must provide the buyer with the following documents:

  • Certificate of Assignment
  • Veterinary certificate of less than 3 months issued by a veterinarian in the light of the information brought to his knowledge and an examination of the dog or cat
  • Backgrounder if the prospective purchaser has already acquired an animal of the same species and submits his certificate of commitment and knowledge for that previous acquisition

The veterinary certificate shall contain the following information:

  • Your name, address and business name
  • Document justifying the identification of the animal in the national domestic carnivore identification register (Icad).
  • If the animal has a European pet passport, the passport number
  • If the animal is sterilized, veterinary certificate of sterilization
  • If the animal is vaccinated, vaccinations carried out
  • In the case of a purebred dog or cat, a copy of the birth declaration entered in the herd-book (LOF - Book of Origins French - or LOOF - Official Book of Feline Origins)
  • In the case of a dog, the date and result of the last behavioral assessment if it was performed
  • If it is a 2nd category dog, the category to which the dog belongs.

In order to draw up this certificate, the veterinarian shall examine the apparent state of health of the dog or cat.

It shall verify the consistency between the morphology and the breed indicated in the animal identification document.

If you do not have a copy of the birth declaration entered in the herd book, the veterinarian states on the certificate that the dog or cat does not belong to a breed.

The mention appearance followed by a race name can be registered on the basis of your information.

The veterinarian shall enter this information on the veterinary certificate.

It may specify the breed of the dog or cat on the basis of the copy of the birth declaration entered in the herd-book.

He shall state the date of the examination and shall stamp and sign it.

If the breed is not consistent with the breed specified on the identification document, the veterinarian shall indicate this on the certificate.

The sale of pets is subject to the VAT: titleContent at the rate of 20%.

And income from the sale of your animals is subject to income tax as farm profits and must therefore be reported.

Contact the company tax department for information on the VAT system and the conditions for declaring income from your breeding activity.

Who shall I contact

If you have only 1 female breeder, you do not have to pay any dues.

If you have 2 to 7 breeding females, you have to pay a solidarity levy.

From 8 breeding females, you can join the agricultural social protection scheme as a farm manager.

Who can help me?

Find who can answer your questions in your region

FAQ