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Selling or giving away dogs and cats

If you have 3 or more fertile female cats or dogs, by law you are considered to be breeding domestic animals as a business.

The sale of domestic cats or dogs, for profit or not, requires a domestic animal business permit, otherwise you may be fined.

Advertising pets for sale

From 1 July 2019, everyone who advertises a puppy, kitten, dog or cat for sale or give away in Victoria will need a source number from the Pet Exchange Register.

It is illegal to advertise a dog/puppy or cat/kitten for sale, without including its microchip identification number. This law allows us to trace sellers of pets.

If you are registered as a domestic animal business, you can instead include your council-registered premises number (along with the name of the issuing council) in the advertisement.

Find out more about including microchip numbers in pet sale advertisements.