Pet Passports

It was suggested by Ghiro we kicked off the new Pet site with information re: getting your pet passported here in Italy.  Has anyone any recent experience of the process.  I have passported a cat a few years ago, obviously the cat had to be microchipped as all the paperwork has to be checked against the chip number.  All other injections have to be bought up to date and a rabies injection is given. A few weeks after that a blood test (BTW the same amount of blood is taken for a cat dog or elephant) and when the vet has the results you have to take your pet and the results to the passport issueing centre.  So basically the same as in the UK but you have to do all the leg work and the whole process took about six weeks then, now I believe it takes less time.  Also I think the cost was cheaper here than in the UK but am unsure.  I expect someone with more recent experience of passporting their pet will post a more up to date version.  Hope this is of help.

Our loved "Tequila" had her pet passport and our vet used to enter all details regarding vaccinations, etc. We travelled with her all the time and the fact that she was properly microchipped and her data registered gave us peace of mind. Here is some useful info on the EU pet passport http://ec.europa.eu/food/animal/liveanimals/pets/qanda_en.htm

Thank you Gala, a very useful link.....

Another thing to note if you and your Dog are resident here, then it is required you register the dog with your local ASL, they will also microchip for a small fee at the same time if not already done. If your dog is involved in an 'Incident' and it is not registered you will face a fine (not sure what it is now but we were faced with a fine of €170 several years ago, but successfully appealed). Check with your Vet about requirements for vaccinations as well if you intend to leave your Dog in Kennels, as some require vaccinations for Kennel Cough etc.

That's interesting Flip.  When we got Bella dog and took her for jabs we were told she had to be microchipped....a legal requirement incase of any accident she may cause...etc etc....Our vet did not tell us to register her st the local ASL so we havn't.  We were given a form to complete and hand into the Comune if we re-homed her however.  The problem with this country is no-one tells you what you should be doing but the powers that be are only too ready to fine you for not doing it !

I think Angela, no one knows half the 'Do's and Dont's' in Italy and only when things go wrong does some smart Alec say "oh well you should have known". I think the problem with Dog registration is that a lot of Italians don't give a jot about  it as like Vaccination it's has never been done with their dogs so they don't bother.

I cannot talk about the specific regulations in Italy; however, throughout the EU, it is compulsory for animal owners to have them microchipped and registered with local Council. Vets are in charge of that. Our Tequila had her passport, which contained all the microchip codes and at the back there was a copy of the Council's registration certificate attached. I guess it must be standard practice.
Here is another link with helpful information regarding pets in Italy. We used this site a lot in the past to find restaurants and hotels that were pet friendly.
http://www.qzlife.it/attualita/regolamento-tipo-per-la-tutela-degli-animali/