Permit for pets and horses
Do you wish to have many pets or horses or carry on an activity involving animals? In that case, you may need to apply for a permit from the County Administrative Board.
You may need a permit to keep many pets or horses. If you carry on a professional activity involving animals, you will always need a permit, regardless of how many animals you have. A professional activity is where you earn money by, for example, breeding and selling animals or if you operate a dog daycare service.
You may need a permit for:
- keeping many pets or horses
- hiring, selling and relocating animals
- breeding dogs, cats, horses or furred animals
- breeding animals to be used as feed
- a pet shop
- a riding school
- riding tours.
The e-services and forms of the County Administrative Board in this field are not available in English. If you wish to submit an application or notification, you may contact the County Administrative Board, which can inform you how to proceed.
When do you need a permit to have dogs, cats or horses?
The number of animals determines whether you need a permit to have dogs, cats and horses.
Keeping animals means taking care of your own or someone else’s animals and being responsible for their care. It can be animals which you own yourself or animals which you feed.
You need a permit if you keep:
- 10 or more horses which are older than 24 months
- 10 or more dogs which are older than 12 months
- 10 or more cats which are older than 12 months.
If you intend to keep horses in a built-up area you may also need a permit from the municipality.
You need a permit to breed:
- 4 or more foals per year
- 3 or more litters of kittens per year
- 3 or more litters of puppies per year.
You need a permit to sell animals from your own breeding if you sell:
- 4 or more horses per year
- dogs from 3 or more litters per year
- cats from 3 or more litters per year.
You need a permit to sell animals from someone else’s breeding if you sell:
- 4 or more horses per year
- 3 or more dogs per year
- 3 or more cats per year.
Leasing animals means hiring animals out for consideration where the animal keeper themselves are not involved, for example riding tours or draught dog activities.
You need a permit if you lease:
- 4 or more horses per year
- 3 or more dogs per year
- 3 or more cats per year.
Keeping or feeding animals means simultaneously and regularly caring for your own or someone else’s animals for consideration or taking them in for homing.
You need a permit if you keep and feed:
- 4 or more horses
- 4 or more dogs
- 4 or more cats.
If you intend to keep horses in a densely built-up area, you may also need permission from the municipality.
When do you need a permit to have other pets?
The number of animals determines whether you need a permit to have other pets. Other pets include, for example:
- rabbits
- ferrets
- rodents
- birds
- fish
- amphibians
- reptiles.
You do not need a permit for other pets even if you keep, breed or sell many of them. If, however, the objective is for the activity to produce a financial return, then it is professional, which means that you need a permit.
Leasing animals means hiring out animals for consideration. This can be, for example, hiring out rabbits during the summer.
You need a permit to lease:
- 6 or more rabbits or ferrets per year
- 6 or more spaces per year to keep rodents, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish.
Such spaces include, for example, cages, aquariums and terrariums.
Keeping or feeding animals means simultaneously and regularly caring for someone else’s animals for consideration or taking them in for homing. This could be, for example, accommodation for small animals or relocation activity.
You need a permit to keep and feed
- 6 or more rabbits or ferrets per year
- 6 or more spaces per year to keep rodents, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish.
Such spaces include, for example, cages, aquariums and terrariums.
In certain cases, you need a permit from the municipality. This applies, for example, where you wish to have snakes or hens in a built-up area. Contact your municipality for information on what applies in your area.
When do you need a permit for professional activity involving animals?
You will always need a permit if you engage in a professional activity involving animals, even if you have only one animal. It is the fact that the activity has a commercial objective, not the number of animals, which is decisive.
Examples of activities which need a permit are:
- riding schools
- pet shops
- animal wholesalers
- A-trainers in trotting
- breeding animals for feed.
You will always need a permit if you breed furred animals, regardless of the number of animals. Furred animals means animals intended for fur production, such as chinchilla, mink and rabbit. More information on a permit for furred animals is available on the website of the Swedish Board of Agriculture.
Animals intended for fur production, Swedish Board of Agriculture (in Swedish) External link.
Other permit that may be needed if you engage in an activity involving animals
Registration for establishments with animals and breeding material
If you operate a facility with animals and breeding material, you must register your business with the Swedish Agency for Agriculture. The aim is to make it easier to trace infections and therefore the Swedish Agricultural Agency needs information on where the animals are. The registration is linked to the EU's animal health regulation.
Notification of visiting activity
If you receive visitors who are allowed to pet and handle your animals more often than three time a year, you must notify your visiting activity to the county administrative board. Examples of visiting activities are riding schools, agricultural establishments which receive classes of schoolchildren, and 4-H farms. Therapy dogs and dogs in care homes are also included in this.
Form for notifying visiting activity (in Swedish) External link.
Showing animals in public
If you operate an establishment showing animals to the public, you may need a permit from the county administrative board. Animals used as an attraction or decoration in shops and restaurants are also covered by the rules.