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Licence - Breeding Dogs, Cats or Rabbits

Licence - Breeding Dogs, Cats or Rabbits

New legislation, The Animal (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 has been introduced which requires anyone who breeds dogs, cats or rabbits to be licenced by the council. The criteria for licensing is:

• Breeding 3 or more litters of pups in any 12 month period


• Breeding 3 or more litters of kittens in any 12 month period


• Breeding 6 or more litters or kits of rabbits in any 12 month period

It does not matter if this is private breeding or as part of a business. If you breed dogs, cats or rabbits as above you will need to be licenced. The only exception is for the breeding of assistance dogs.

A licence will last either one, two or three years. The factors which will influence how long a licence is issued for are:

• The risk of licence conditions being breached by the applicant


• The impact on animal welfare of breaches of licence conditions


• Whether or not the applicant already meets a standard higher than that required by the licence conditions

Licence Conditions

There are general conditions and specific conditions. General conditions (Schedule 2 of the Regulations) are applied to the licence and these are prescribed in law.

The specific conditions relate to the breeding activity being licenced. The Council may also attach any other conditions . The general standard conditions relate to:

• Displaying the licence


• Keeping of records


• Numbers of Animals


• Staffing


• Suitable Environment for the animals


• Diet for the animals


• Enrichment and Training of the animals


• Animal Handling and Interactions


• Protecting the animals from suffering, injury and disease


• Emergency plans

The specific conditions are outlined in The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (Scotland) Regulations 2021. They can be found at:

• Schedule 6, breeding of dogs


• Schedule 7, breeding of cats


• Schedule 8, breeding of rabbits

The Council may also attach such further conditions as it considers necessary for securing the welfare of animals of animals the licence holder will be responsible for.

Important

The application process may involve an inspection by a Veterinary Surgeon appointed by the Council. The full cost of this must be met by the applicant before a licence will be issued. The cost will vary depending on individual circumstances.

An applicant may not appoint their own Veterinary Surgeon or request a specific Veterinary Surgeon be appointed.

The Council has no control over the fees charged by a Veterinary Surgeon it appoints but the applicant will be informed, in advance where possible, what the fees are or are estimated to be.

Apply

To apply for a licence for the breeding of dogs, cats or rabbits, or for further information regarding a licence please email licensing@clacks.gov.uk.