Has anyone gotten a dog in Italy — what is required for that? Is there a lot of hassle with the paperwork? I was told that if the dog gets sick and dies, you could end up in prison. Is that true?
Talk of prison is just scare-mongering. Italian laws on animal cruelty are strict, but if a dog became ill and died of natural causes, there are no criminal charges. The main things you actually need are a microchip (mandatory) and registration in the canine registry (anagrafe canina) with your municipality. I had my dog microchipped at a veterinary clinic in Tuscany; it cost about €50, and they then send the data to the registry themselves.
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They let me out of jail after dashulya’s reply, thanks. And do you have to get the microchip and register with the dog registry (anagrafe canina) at your own municipality, or can you do it at any vet clinic and they’ll send it to the registry themselves?
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It depends on the province — in some places a private clinic really does send the data itself, while in others you specifically need an ASL (Local Health Authority) veterinarian. In Pisa there’s just one elderly guy for the whole province; you have to catch him and make an appointment in advance. Check with your municipal ASL to see how they handle it.
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In Savona a private clinic implanted the microchip for us, but they didn’t send the data to the anagrafe canina themselves — they said they don’t have access to the Ligurian system. We had to make a separate appointment with the ASL (Local Health Authority) vet, and there the vet is often not present and the wait is about three weeks. If you’re bringing a dog from Russia, it’s a whole different story even with an EU pet passport — you have to have it reissued through the ASL; you can’t just register it.
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A passport for travel in Milan cost €150–170; it took about three weeks to make.
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In Bergamo they tried to register dogs brought in from Georgia — they got an email reply saying that without residency a passport is not issued, and the deadline for registration is one month after entry. Also regarding imports from Russia: controls have been tightened, and even if the animal already has an EU passport, antibody titers for rabies are still required to return from third countries. 0.5 IU/ml is considered borderline — the lab says it’s better to have a higher level to avoid risking problems at the border crossing.
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0.5 IU/mL is the EU regulatory minimum, but border control interprets it differently. It’s not guaranteed they’ll accept you right at the threshold — I’ve heard of cases where people were turned away. I’d aim for at least 0.6–0.7; retesting is cheaper than explaining it at the checkpoint.
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