FAQ: How to Register Your Pet's Microchip in France

[Christine Animal]

We are often asked how to register a British microchip in France.  I emailed the Société Centrale Canine who answered :

Merci de contacter la S.I.E.V (Societe d'Identification Electronique Veterinaire - 01 55 01 08 08) pour connaitre la procedure.

I have just called the SIEV and they say you cannot do this yourself, but have to go through a vet who has the necessary form.  If he does not have the forms, he can order them from the SIEV.  He has to be able to read your pet's microchip, then he fills out the form and sends it off to the SIEV.  I have been told the same applies for American microchips.

Don't forget to do this.  It is important, especially if your pet goes missing.

[Catalpa]

Thank you for this. If a mod is reading this, could you make Christine's post a 'sticky'?

[Cicero]

I am hapy to have read this I was wondering what to do,as I can't see anyone phoning the American 800 number we have for our pets.

Kris

[Gizmo]

So pleased that someone has come up with this info. We found out what

to do through our vet when we had our newly imported Bengal kitten

neutered. Having heard tales that UK microchips don't respond to the

French System we wrote a cheque for 11.60Euros to SIEV - gave it to the

vet, signed the Proof of Ownership plus Change of Address Form and he

did everything on the Internet.5 days later we are the proud owners of

a French Certficate so our little pal is now well protected.

Just one thing -  We spent £204 obtaining a UK pet Passport/Rabies

Jabs/Blood Tests and all the other paraphernalia associated with

importing a pet AND - No checks at UK Customs - No Custom Officers even

on duty in Dieppe - It just doesn't seem justified to be forced to exit

the UK with the official documentation that no-one could care a ******

about!!

Has anyone else had this experience - Should we not petition for easier, free entry from the UK.

Alan  

[sueyh]

The problem is Alan that you need all this paraphernalia to get your dog back into the UK.  Also on top of that you have to pay £30 per dog to the British Government (Defra) to do so.  The £30 is not charged by the carrier but by the government.  The check takes five minutes - they are onto a good thing aren't they?  Rip off Britain again.

 

Suey

[RobM]

[quote user="sueyh"]

...  The £30 is not charged by the carrier but by the government.  The check takes five minutes - they are onto a good thing aren't they?  Rip off Britain again.

 

Suey

[/quote]

 

According to the DEFRA FAQ sheet there is NO charge levied by "DEFRA or the Devolved authorities".  Any charges are raised by the Transport Company involved.   It may be a rip-off, but not by the govt. on THIS occasion!

[Nettie]

That's because Alan all you need to exit the UK into France is a rabies jab 21 days before departure and a passport, you only need the blood test etc in order to be able to bring your pooch back into the UK, and whatever you do make sure the rabies jab booster is given before the due date on the passport, one day late and your passport will then be invalid for re entry into the UK and you have to start from scratch.

[Megan le Fey]

[quote user="Cicero"]

I am hapy to have read this I was wondering what to do,as I can't see anyone phoning the American 800 number we have for our pets.

Kris

[/quote]

I was looking on Christine's website this morning and saw the note about being able to register the microchip of your American pet in France.  It has prompted me to mention that I was able to register Scalli's South African microchip here as well and that, as so much of Zimbabwe stuff is SA compatible, you could probably also register a  Zim. microchip here.  I registered Scalli's chip via our vet in the same way as a UK chip.

[passepartout]

In September last year we returned via the tunnel to the UK, and were surprised to notice that the cars with pets were being checked out. The gents were from DEFRA, and checking that the PET P/port was in order, also enquired on how long it took to get Winston, our lab checked in . Apparently, DEFRA DO NOT raise this charge, it is solely for the carrier who transports your pet, normally £30 unless you use use BF and its 2 arms and 2 legs...

[odile]

when we adopted Gadsby from friends in Switzerland who couldn't keep her (to come and live in UK until we can make final move back to the Jura)- the vet advised that the microchip she had was an old fashioned one, and may be impossible for all modern international machines to read. So before they brought her over to Calais to be picked up by moi, they fitted her with a new international chip. She has been coming back and forth with us no prob. On our last visit to the vet in Calais  - there was a young couple and 2 kids with a long haired dachshund, all in tears (I think the dog too) - they explained that they had gone to pick the dog up from her mum in Poland, as she was too ill to keep her. they had gone through all the vaccination, passport, etc, and had waited patiently for the dates. but when they got to the vet in Calais, her machine couldn't read the chip, so couldn't sign the passport. the young couple who live in Manchester said they didn;t have the money to replace chip, so we offered to pay. the vet refused, saying she couldn't prove the dog was indeed the dog from the passport. The  vet gave them 2 choices:  get in touch with vet in Poland and ask him to send machine for reading chip asap, whilst they wait in a hotel. Or drive back to Poland to pick up machine, or get chip changed for modern international version. They left in floods of tears with little dog Sonia. We still wonder which options they took, or chose  3/ hide Sonia for the crossing and return to Mancheter asap,

..or 4/ leave her by the roadside in Calais (although they were so devastated that I am sure they didn;t do that.)  Very sad, I think about them often. so if you do adopt a dog from abroad, beware, many older microchips are not internationally readable.

[Christine Animal]

I thought this was a sticky, but couldn't find it.  So I'm bringing it back up to the top as it's important and people still don't know how to proceed or even that they should have done so.

 

[Cat]

I've only just noticed this thread, and have now "stickied" it.

It does mean though that as a stickie,  the thread locks itself [:(]