Registering Your Companion Animal - A Two-Step Process

Step 1 – Micro-Chipping Your Animal

Under the Companion Animals Act, cats and dogs, which reside in NSW, must be identified by microchip by 12 weeks of age. Micro chipping your animal is the first step in the registration process.

When an animal is micro chipped its identification details are entered onto the NSW Companion Animals Register. A certificate is issued to the owner receipting the entry of their animal's details.

Microchips are about the same size as a large grain of rice. They are very safe. Your pet will feel little pain as the chip is inserted quickly and safely under the skin between the shoulders.

When the chip is scanned, a number displayed on the scanner will be used to identify your cat or dog.

Micro-chipping can be arranged through any vet.

Step 2 - Registering Your Animal

Once you have micro-chipped your animal, you then need to lifetime register it by 6 months of age. Infringements may be issued to owners of animals whose animal is older than 6 months of age and is not registered.

Lifetime registrations can be made at any Council, the RSPCA or the Animal Welfare League.

Cost to Register your cat or dog

(This is a once only payment and covers the life of your animal)

• De-sexed cat or dog - $51
  
• De-sexed cat or dog owned by a pensioner - $20
  
• Entire (not desexed) cat or dog - $188
  
• Entire cat or dog owned by recognised breeder* - $51
  
• Assistance dogs - Free
  
• Working dog - $Nil
  

Note for Cat Owners

Registration Exemptions

The only allowable registration exemptions are provided for in Section 16 of the Companion Animals Regulation:

a. a cat born before 1 July 1999, other than a cat whose ownership changes after that date;
b. an animal that is ordinarily kept outside New South Wales, but not if the animal has been in New South Wales for a continuous period of at least three months;
c. an animal in the custody of a Council (including in a Council pound), the Animal Welfare League NSW, The Cat Protection Society of NSW Inc. or RSPCA;
d. an animal in the custody of an organisation approved by the Director-General, for the purposes of this clause, by order published in the Gazette;
e. an animal kept at a pet shop for the purposes of sale;
f. an animal kept for the purposes of sale in the course of a business conducted at a booth or stall in a market or at a fair;
g. a greyhound registered in accordance with the rules made in relation to greyhound racing under the Greyhound Racing Act 2009; or
h. a dog that is ordinarily used by a police officer on official duty. 
i. a dog that is ordinarily used on official duty by a correctional officer (within the meaning of the Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Act 1999),
j. a dog used by a Commonwealth officer on official duty,
k. an animal in the custody of an accredited research establishment within the meaning of the Animal Research Act 1985, or the holder of an animal research authority or an animal supplier's licence within the meaning of that Act, for purposes in connection with animal research, as authorised under that Act,
l. an animal kept at a licensed animal display establishment within the meaning of the Exhibited Animals Protection Act 1986 and lawfully exhibited in accordance with that Act,
m. a working dog that is ordinarily kept in a part of the Western Division of the State that is not within a local government area,
n. a working dog that is ordinarily kept on land categorised as farmland for the purposes of Part 3 of Chapter 15 of the Local Government Act 1993.

Animals covered under these exemptions are not required to be identified or registered.

Any animal which is seized and taken into the custody of a Council pound or animal shelter must be microchipped and lifetime registered before being returned to its original owner. This requirement overrides any exemptions.