What to do when your pet is dead?

There are several possibilities: burial in your property in compliance with the departmental health regulations, call a veterinarian to incinerate the corpse in an animal crematorium or contact an animal crematorium directly.

Burial in the owner's garden

The health rules applicable to the disposal of animal corpses are governed by European legislation, in particular the regulation no 1069/2009. This regulation introduces derogating rules for the corpses of pets (dogs, cats, new pets) and allows the owner of a dead animal to bury it in his garden.

The owner of the dead animal must, however, be aware of the departmental health regulations, which may impose specific rules. It is possible to inquire at the town hall.

Under these conditions, the owner who buries his dead pet in his garden is not exposed to a fine.

Call a veterinarian

You can entrust the corpse from your pet to a veterinarian so he can have it cremated by an animal crematorium.

You have to do this as soon as possible and no later than 48 hours after death.

Contact an animal crematorium

You can also contact directly one animal crematorium.

To find the contact details of an animal crematorium, you can contact your veterinarian or your departmental directorate of population protection (DDPP).

Cremation is a service fee-paying.

Crematoriums generally offer the following services:

• Either one collective incineration. In this case, your pet is cremated simultaneously with other pets in the same cremation cell. You cannot, in this case, recover the ashes. These are scattered in a private place, usually a garden of remembrance held by the animal crematorium.
• Either one individual incineration. Your pet being cremated alone, you can recover all the ashes. Some crematoriums may also offer to attend the cremation. You can keep the ashes at home or scatter them in a private place that belongs to you (for example, your garden), an animal cemetery, a garden of remembrance owned by the crematorium or in the middle of nature (avoiding public roads and parks and cultivation fields). You cannot have the urn placed in a family vault in a cemetery reserved for the burial of humans.

In addition, you must declare the death from animal to national identification file for domestic carnivores (I-cad) from the I-Cad website, in your space Holder by logging in using your pet's identification number:

I-Cad - Access to the holder area

If you have downloaded the app Filalapat on your mobile phone, you can also report the death of your pet from this application, in the space dedicated to your animals.

To log in to the I-Cad website or register your pet on the app Filalapat, the animal's identification number and password must be entered.

The animal's identification number and password are shown on the top left of the animal's identification card, which was issued by the I-cad.

You can entrust the corpse from your pet to a veterinarian so he can have it cremated by an animal crematorium.

You must do this as soon as possible and at the latest within 48 hours after death.

You can also contact directly one animal crematorium.

To find the contact details of an animal crematorium, you can contact your veterinarian or your departmental directorate of population protection (DDPP).

Cremation is a service fee-paying.

Crematoriums generally offer the following services:

• Either one collective incineration. In this case, your pet is cremated simultaneously with other pets in the same cremation cell. You cannot, in this case, recover the ashes. These are scattered in a private place, usually a garden of remembrance held by the animal crematorium
• Either one individual incineration. Your pet being cremated alone, you can recover all the ashes. Some crematoriums may also offer to attend the cremation. You can keep the ashes at home or scatter them in a private place that belongs to you (for example, your garden), an animal cemetery, a garden of remembrance owned by the crematorium or in the middle of nature (avoiding public roads and parks and cultivation fields). You cannot have the urn placed in a family vault in a cemetery reserved for the burial of humans.

In addition, if your pet was identified at national identification file for protected non-domestic animals (I-fap), you must declare his death à the I-fap online.

You can entrust the corpse from your pet to a veterinarian so he can have it cremated by an animal crematorium.

You must complete this process as soon as possible and no later than 48 hours after death.

You can also contact directly one animal crematorium.

To find the contact details of an animal crematorium, you can contact your veterinarian or your departmental directorate of population protection (DDPP).

Cremation is a service fee-paying.

Crematoriums generally offer the following services:

• Either one collective incineration. In this case, your pet is cremated simultaneously with other pets in the same cremation cell. You cannot, in this case, recover the ashes. These are scattered in a private place, usually a garden of remembrance held by the animal crematorium
• Either one individual incineration. Your pet being cremated alone, you can recover all the ashes. Some crematoriums may also offer to attend the cremation. You can keep the ashes at home or scatter them in a private place that belongs to you (for example, your garden), an animal cemetery, a garden of remembrance owned by the crematorium or in the middle of nature (avoiding public roads and parks and cultivation fields). You cannot have the urn placed in a family vault in a cemetery reserved for the burial of humans.

To have your pet cremated, you must sign with a veterinarian one agreement of care and cremation.

Cremation is a paid service.

To date, only one company offers this service in France.

Once the agreement with the veterinarian is signed, the crematorium comes to remove the remains everywhere in France within 48 hours maximum.

When the cremation business arrives, you must give it your pet's identification document (and the registration card if you hold it in paper format). The business of cremation is responsible for transmitting these documents and declaring the death of your pet to the Institut français du cheval et de l'équitation (IFCE).

Incineration can be common to several animals or individual.

When it is common to several animals, it is possible to recover a symbolic part of the ashes.

When it is individual, you can ask to recover the ashes of your pet.

You can keep the ashes at home, or scatter them, in a private place belonging to you (for example, your garden), an animal cemetery, or in the middle of nature (avoiding public roads and parks and cultivation fields).

You cannot have the urn placed in a family vault in a cemetery reserved for the burial of humans.

Upon the death of your equine, you can choose a rendering service via the association ATM: titleContent Equidés-Angee or another rendering service of your choice.

1st case: you choose a rendering service via the association ATM: titleContent Equidae-Angee

If you choose a rendering service through the association ATM: titleContent Equidés-Angee, the rendering request is made from your personal space on the website of the French Institute of Horse and Horse Riding (IFCE).

You must complete the procedure as soon as possible and at the latest within 48 hours following death.

From your personalized space on the IFCE website, click on My SIRE procedures then in the section Rendering, on Pay for rendering costs.

Equine Information System (EIS)

You can pay them rendering costs online.

You must print the payment certificate to be delivered to the renderer on the day of collection.

Once the payment has been made, you must call the rendering service yourself to set the appointment.

The rendering service is responsible for declaring the animal's death to IFCE.

2nd case: you choose another rendering service

You can contact the rendering company of your choice.

You must contact her as soon as possible and no later than 48 hours after the death.

The collection and payment terms depend on the chosen company.

You must declare the death of your pet yourself on the website of the Institut français du cheval et de l'équitation (IFCE):

Equine Information System (EIS)