The SIAC's main objectives are to regulate companion animals to live in Portuguese homes, helping to prevent abandonment and all its implications, namely in human and animal health. The SIAC increases the effectiveness of Portuguese law regarding the protection of animals, promoting compliance with the law in cases of mistreatment. The entity also controls animal selling and purchasing.

All pets, such as dogs, cats and ferrets, must be registered in SIAC by placing an identification microchip on the animal. Marking an animal with a microchip can only be done in a veterinary clinic. After placement, the veterinarian must deliver proof that will act as the Identification Document of Companion Animals.

On the website www.siac.vet , owners who have lost one of their animals can report an alert, using the number provided by the veterinarian through the animal's microchip number. On the website, the disappearance can be reported and is registered in the SIAC database. If the animal is found by third parties and taken to a veterinary clinic, the owners will be informed, and the animal will return to its home.

At the moment, more than 2 million dogs, more than 441,000 cats and about 1,700 ferrets are registered in the SIAC.

Animal registration is important, as it promotes animal health and well-being, as well as being a way to promote the safety of companion animals.

Author

Deeply in love with music and with a guilty pleasure in criminal cases, Bruno G. Santos decided to study Journalism and Communication, hoping to combine both passions into writing. The journalist is also a passionate traveller who likes to write about other cultures and discover the various hidden gems from Portugal and the world. Press card: 8463. 

Bruno G. Santos