Letters: French vets cannot check EU database for lost pets
Connexion reader points out that pets in France need to have the national ID chips or risk never being reunited with their owners
It is free to register a pet with I-CAD
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To the Editor,
I write to alert readers that French vets can only scan the French I-Cad database when checking the ID chips of animals in France, but are not able/allowed (by the French national body) to scan other European databases.
This means that any non-French registered animals (belonging to tourists etc) lost on French territory cannot be traced.
I spent 30-plus years in Belgium where, whenever I found a lost dog and took it to my local vet or police, they could first scan the Belgian database and then at European level. This enabled us to reunite several dogs with their desperate families.
Read more: How do I change my pet’s details on French I-CAD database?
As soon as my French vet mentioned this to me, I registered my dog on the French register (as well as the Belgian one – you can be registered on more than one), for her safety if ever she were to be lost in either country.
Even now, permanently living in France, she stays on both registers for when we visit Belgium.
Please advise your readers to do the same in their home country.
M.T. Moran, by email
Have you ever lost a pet in France? Were they fitted with ID chips? Share your experience at letters@connexionfrance.com
