Pets in France

Hello everyone,

Many of us in France have four-legged friends. What about you? Do you have one or more pets? Share your experience with us!

What are the formalities to import pets in France? What about pet adoption procedures in the country? Did you bring your pet from your home country to your host country? If so, did everything turn out fine?

What do French think about pets? Are they comfortable with dogs, cats or unusual pets?

Share your advice!

Priscilla

Hi

I brought my dog and cat to France from Turkey and the paperwork was incredibly tedious as i was travelling from outside the EU, and it was also quite expensive. If travelling with a cat i would advice traveling with it in the cabin (if airline allows) and not as cargo. And if planning to travel frequently with your pet to EU states, it is advisable to get a the EU pet passport (its a blue booklet) which any vet in the EU can assist with. 

http://www.consulfrance-jhb.org/Animal- … -to-France

Regarless, I have no regrets going through the hustle and people in France love pets :)

When my partner and I moved from Spain to France, we took our four dogs with us. We made sure their passports, chips and shots were up to date and took them with us in our car during the move.

Once we arrived to France we wen to a local vet to get the chips actualized to the French system, with our new address. Our Border Terrier was so upset after getting a vaccination that he went and peed against the vet's desk in retaliation!

The dogs are quite happy here, they have a big terrain to run on, and chickens to play with.

We also have cats now.

As Nimo said, the French are generally friendly towards animals.

:D vive les chiens! 

& I forgot to mention that apparently most airlines dont allow dogs and cats to travel on the same flight. So if travelling with both, confirm and make your bookings early enough. Cheers

Dear Priscilla, we have two dogs, One is english and the other one is french, from the local SPA here in Roanne France. No problem aquiring her, but what was needed was a visit to the vets for a check. I think it cost us a few euros, from SPA and obviousy the vet cost as well. Our english dog is older, which we've always done, because the old dog will always train the new dog with good habits.

The EU pet passport allows small animals to travel without restrictions. I show and compete in working hunting trials with my Border Terriers all over Europe. Only the vaccinations have to be kept up to date. There are only anomalies in Switzerland as certain breeds are banned. I do not think dogs have a good life in France. Most people keep the dogs outside and do not share the same sentiment. They use them hunting wild boar without protective jackets and every week the vet surgery is full of dogs that have been pierced by the wild boar. The vets do not respect the hunters for this either. I compete in regulated competitions only and would not let my dogs run free and get injured. As for horses they have a rotten life in France and most of the EU members as their lack of use makes them target for meat. In France I have already bought 2 Thoroughbred racehorses from the racing stables before they ended up on the truck to Marseilles for meat. I had originally my horses from Ireland here. The French do not respect horses and treat them on the same ratio as a cow. They buy them and then leave them stuck in a field in the winter with no rugs or shelter. They pay minimum monthly pension for them. They think that the cost stops at buying them. The opposite extreme is the horse for show jumping. A sport that does not interest me. I have reformed racehorses for good use for over 35 years. I compete in endurance racing so that they have a good use now that at 3 years old they were to be dumped and end up as meat. This applies to Switzerland, Italy, Belgium also,

We brought one dog with us from Australia. We had a tonne of paperwork to do to bring her to Europe, and her fare cost about 4,000 dollars, four times what ours did! We flew into Heathrow and picked her up at the arc that day, no quarantine. She travelled in the hold (only place allowed) and stayed in her box for 24 hours. She had peed and was smelly but fine when she arrived. When we came to France we had to get a UK vet to check her and give her a passport (more paperwork and money!) and just drove in. We travel a bit within Schengen and keep her shots and passport up to date but noone has even wanted to see it!
We also adopted a dog once we got here ex SPA. He came with his passport and we have kept that up to date too.
Now one of our post Brexit options is to go back to Aus, they have shorted the quarantine period but it is still ten days, both dogs are old and I am not sure they would be able to make that trip, so we plan to stay here till they go to the big kennel in the sky.

Hi there,
We rescued our little dog from the SPA in 2001 and she had a pet passport..
She sadly died 18 months ago and we now feel we could look again next year for a puppy and again have the chip passport etc...
The French are much more accepting of well behaved dogs in restaurants etc...much more so than the U.K. ...

Pet in France
We moved here 2 weeks ago and brought a few pets with us

4 dogs
14 finches
9 chickens

So pet passports for the dogs £800.00 approx
Vet bill to test the chickens for salmonella £180.00
Vet bill for health check or finches and chickens 24 hours before travel £365.00

Total cost £1345.00

So dogs were straight forward and the passports last but the livestock !!

The paperwork involved let alone the expense would make an Oxford grad shrink away in fear

We came via the channel tunnel and NOBODY was interested in the pet passports or the official British government papers that we had ready to present for the livestock

Anyway we did it and are very happy with our little managery regardless of the cost and effort we made to get them here

Susan & David

Hi welcome to France
it's easy to get pets in France ...don t worry
***
if you need anyhelp please let me know
A

Moderated by kenjee 7 years ago
Reason : Share contact infos only in private please.

Hi everyone.

We adopted a Bengal cat at a breeder in Normandie. It was very easy because everything was provided by the breeder; all necessary vaccines, health book, the identification chip and the passport, everything were ready when we pick him up. As Bengal is a purebred cat, we are also provided with the LOOF (Livre Officiel des Origines Félines) Pedigree. A LOOF pedigree is an official document fulfilling two goals:
1. It shows the ascent of the cat on several generations (4 in addition to the cat itself).
2. It recognizes the cat as belonging to a given breed and hence gives the cat its purebred cat status.
All cats born in France since January 1999 must have a LOOF pedigree to be considered as purebred cats.
Then the last thing i did before leaving was registering my name as the owner on the french official/government website i can't remember the website, oh and i also sign an adoption contract.

Then the next day we bring him to Greece, we flew with Air France and put him in the cabin, the bag/kennel has to be within the dimensions Air France have approved, and he has to be able to stand up and turn around with all the legs, he was still a baby so we were okay.
He lived with us in Greece for 8 months, then we moved back here in France, we used Air France again, and no problem, they didn't even ask for his passport ! Maybe because we are travelling within EU (but guys, do your job please !  :D )

The neighbors are all amazed by the beauty of our cat. They claim they have never seen one like this but honestly Bengal is already spreading up around France. The only problem we have is, Bengal's hunting nature. Now we couldn' t let him free outside because one neighbor complained that Lobo keep coming to their chicken's cage and attacked them (trying to kill or eat them, i believe) We are still looking for the best solution for him to be free outside without attacking the chickens LOL  :lol:

Maybe you could suggest your neigbour to get a cat repelent?

Aparently it exist and it,s inocuous...I would investigate before suggesting it, just in case...?

Your cat will be always a hunter...cats usually love killing animals for the pleasure of remembering its predator roots..let,s face it.
My sister cat kills all birds and lizards she can and so far my sister has not found a solution unless using a necklace with a little bell to warn the poor little animals that cross her cat,s way

Sarilla_illa wrote:

Maybe you could suggest your neigbour to get a cat repelent?

Aparently it exist and it,s inocuous...I would investigate before suggesting it, just in case...?

Your cat will be always a hunter...cats usually love killing animals for the pleasure of remembering its predator roots..let,s face it.
My sister cat kills all birds and lizards she can and so far my sister has not found a solution unless using a necklace with a little bell to warn the poor little animals that cross her cat,s way


Oh really? Ya maybe i can do that, we'll see, thanks. I used similar repellant for him, to not coming on my drums rug and scratch but I finished 2 bottles without success, does not work for Bengal I think hahaha. If you find out which repellant it is, it would be great if you share to me  ;)  Thanks.
I am very jealous because Lobo is not the only cat in the neighborhood but he is the ONLY cat who attacks those poor chickens !  :/

Hello,
When I adopted my Bengal, i received all papers cleared and done. The Breeder took care of all necessary document such as vaccine book, LOOF Pedigree certificate and EU passport, and i have no idea what was the process he went through..

As long as we are talking about pets, when we move to Bordeaux from the US in December, we were told that no more than 10 days prior to departure we had to have the pets vaccinated and get a health certificate and a French chip implanted into them.
We are planning to take them in the cabin with us. Has anyone had any problems bringing small dogs into France?

Hi everyone,
I am planning to move to Paris from Turkey for occupational reasons. However, I have 2 dogs and 2 cats which I have to bring with me and one of the dogs is pitbull-boxer mix. I adopted him from shelter when he is 3 months old, his ears were cutted and he had only one eye when I adopted. Do anyone of you know what is the situation for pitbulls? In some websites there are rules mentioning that "crossbreeds are not allowed to france". Is this rule suitable for my pitbull-boxer mix?
Thanks in advance

Dear Nim0,

I am planning to move France from Turkey with my 2 dogs and 2 cats. If it is Ok for you, can you give me more specific information about procedures and your pets breeds? One of my dogs is pitbull-boxer mix and the procedure might be different for this kind of breeds.

Thanks in advance

Cagdas

Nim0 wrote:

Hi

I brought my dog and cat to France from Turkey and the paperwork was incredibly tedious as i was travelling from outside the EU, and it was also quite expensive. If travelling with a cat i would advice traveling with it in the cabin (if airline allows) and not as cargo. And if planning to travel frequently with your pet to EU states, it is advisable to get a the EU pet passport (its a blue booklet) which any vet in the EU can assist with. 

http://www.consulfrance-jhb.org/Animal- … -to-France

Regarless, I have no regrets going through the hustle and people in France love pets :)

Never travelled with mine, well it's a cat. But I think it's great for people who have a dog to share their adventures with them. It makes great memories even tho I guess it makes the whole process a bit more complicated and expensive regarding vaccins, flights, accomodation etc.