Genève pratique
Practical Geneva
Pets
How to settle in Switzerland with your pet?
Traveling with pets
Are considered as pets by the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (OSAV), animals that accompany their holder or a person mandated for it. In all cases, they must be under the personal responsibility of their holder before entering Switzerland:
- dogs, cats, ferrets
- domestic rabbits, rodents
- pet birds
- reptiles, amphibians
- ornamental fish and ornamental aquatic animals
- invertebrates, except bees and crustaceans
Legislation
Dogs from abroad must be presented within 10 days of importation to a veterinarian in Switzerland. The notification of these dogs is compulsory for registration in the AMICUS database, and be made within 10 days by the veterinarian (with the microchip or foreign tattoo number). Any data already registered abroad is not automatically transmitted to Switzerland.
- Find all the information on the rules applicable to dog owners for members of permanent missions and international civil servants
- The FSVO Border Veterinary Service (BVS) checks at Zurich and Geneva airports whether live animals from abroad comply with legal requirements at the time of their import or transit.
Cross the border with your dog, cat, ferret
As a general rule, animals must be accompanied by a veterinary certificate and a declaration of ownership. Only the signed original document is accepted. The veterinary certificate and the declaration of ownership must be drawn up in German, French, Italian or English or be accompanied by a certified translation into one of these languages.
Consult the online tool to know the regulations according to your pet and your country of origin
Living with a pet in the Canton of Geneva
Control mark for dogs: all dogs must bear the official control mark for the current year, visibly attached to the collar. The owner must obtain this check mark from his municipality and, for Geneva, from a municipal police station (see also the information notice on dog tax)
Dogs vaccination: is compulsory against rabies in the Canton of Geneva (in French).
Useful information, responsibilities and obligations when you own a dog in the city of Geneva.
Keeping of pets & regulation
Regulations depending on the type of animal from the smallest to the largest on the FSVO site. Owner training, recommendations and prohibited practices. For example, in Switzerland, guinea pigs cannot be alone in a cage; more information depending on the animal species on the French version of the website.
Loss of an animal
For dogs, the cantonal pound is in charge of collecting stray dogs on the public area and of finding their owner. If the owner should not be found, the animal would be transfered to the Society for the Protection of Animals (SPA) in order to be replaced.
For cats, in case of no identification, they are transfered to SOS-Chats.
There are various online platforms for reporting the loss of an animal:
- PetAlert Genève
-
Swiss Animal Call Centre (stmz)
- ANIS, pet database, except dogs
