Overview

• MEPs backed the text by 457 votes to 17 with 86 abstentions to establish EU-wide minimum welfare criteria for dogs and cats
• Facilities must microchip dogs at age five and cats at ten before transfer, with registration in a centralized database designed to curb trafficking
• The rules ban most mutilations, prohibit electric and spiked collars and disallow extreme breeding practices and close inbreeding
• Exemptions apply to small-scale breeders limited to two litters per female per year plus working dogs used by police or hunters; a separate amendment bans the display of cats and dogs in pet shops
• Member state validation is required before the rules take effect, leaving doubts about the text’s capacity to curb abandonment or improve oversight of online sales