Dogs in Bulgaria must be microchipped, given a veterinary passport and registered by a vet.
The vet enters the dog’s details in the national system used by the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency.
Owners must also declare the dog to their municipality.
The veterinary and municipal records are separate.
Bulgaria does not provide a simple public national microchip search for finders.
A vet, shelter, municipality or official veterinary service may need to check the registration.
Which microchip databases are used in Bulgaria?
Identified dogs are entered in the integrated information system of the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency.
The agency is known as BFSA in English and БАБХ in Bulgarian.
The veterinary system is often called VetIS.
The record may include:
- The microchip number
- Information about the dog
- The owner’s name
- The owner’s address
- The owner’s telephone number
- The date the chip was implanted
- Passport information
- Vaccination and treatment information
The vet normally creates and updates this record.
There is no simple public national chip search for owners or finders.
A registered vet or official veterinary service may need to check the number.
Is there also a municipal dog register?
Yes.
Dog owners must also declare their dog to the municipality connected to their permanent address.
This municipal record is separate from the veterinary registration.
The municipality also manages the annual dog-ownership fee and any exemptions.
Ask your municipality:
- How to declare the dog
- Which documents are required
- How much the annual fee is
- Whether the dog qualifies for an exemption
- How to report a new address or owner
Do not assume that the vet completes the municipal declaration for you.
Can EUROPETNET find a Bulgarian registration?
EUROPETNET is a European microchip search network.
Bulgaria does not currently appear to have its own database in the EUROPETNET member list.
This means an ordinary Bulgarian veterinary registration may not appear there.
However, EUROPETNET can still be useful when the animal was previously registered in another country.
ChipTrace may provide a button that opens the EUROPETNET search page.
The search is completed manually on the EUROPETNET website.
A negative result does not prove that the animal is unregistered in Bulgaria.
Are microchips required in Bulgaria?
Yes, for dogs.
Owners must take a dog aged six weeks or older to a registered vet for official identification.
The vet implants an injectable microchip and issues an identification document or veterinary passport.
The information is then entered in the BFSA integrated information system.
The vet also records or arranges:
- The dog’s identification
- The owner’s details
- Parasite treatment
- Vaccinations against canine diseases
- The first rabies vaccination at the required age
The first rabies vaccination is given when the dog is at least 12 weeks old and before it reaches six months.
Rabies protection must then be kept current.
Are cats required to be microchipped?
Bulgaria does not apply the same nationwide identification duty to every privately owned cat.
However, microchipping is strongly recommended.
It gives a lost cat permanent identification.
An indoor cat can also escape through a door, window or balcony.
Cats travelling across an EU border normally need a readable microchip.
Ask a Bulgarian vet which registration options are available for a cat.
What do Bulgarian microchip numbers look like?
Modern pet microchips normally contain 15 digits.
Bulgaria’s ISO country code is:
100
A Bulgarian country-coded chip may therefore begin with 100.
However, not every pet living in Bulgaria has a 100 chip.
Many chips use a manufacturer code instead.
Manufacturer-coded microchips usually begin with the number 9.
Other animals were microchipped in another country before arriving in Bulgaria.
This is common with:
- Imported dogs and cats
- Pets adopted through international rescues
- Animals that moved to Bulgaria with their families
- Older pets with manufacturer-coded chips
A readable foreign or manufacturer-coded chip can still be recorded in Bulgaria.
The first digits are only a clue.
They do not prove where the animal lives or where its registration is held.
Read our guide to pet microchip numbers for more information.
What should you do if you find a microchipped pet in Bulgaria?
Take the animal to a registered vet, shelter or municipal animal service.
Ask them to scan the animal carefully.
Write down the complete microchip number.
It can be useful to scan more than once and across the shoulders and body.
A chip may have moved from its original position.
Then:
- Ask a Bulgarian vet to check the BFSA system
- Check the veterinary passport, when available
- Ask the municipality about its local dog register
- Contact the veterinary clinic that implanted the chip
- Contact the shelter, rescue or breeder connected to the animal
- Check databases in countries where the pet may have lived
- Open EUROPETNET when a foreign European registration may be involved
- Use ChipTrace for database, country and manufacturer clues
Bulgaria’s national veterinary record is not open to public online searches.
A registered vet or official service may need to check it.
The vet, shelter or authority can then contact the registered owner.
The finder should not expect to receive the owner’s private details.
Do not publish the complete microchip number online.
Keep part of it private so that ownership claims can be checked.
Read how ChipTrace works for an explanation of automatic checks, manual searches and next-step advice.
What if a Bulgarian microchip cannot be found?
Ask a vet or shelter to scan the animal again.
One incorrect digit is enough to produce no result.
Then:
- Check the veterinary passport
- Ask a registered Bulgarian vet to check the BFSA system
- Check the municipal dog register
- Check vaccination, adoption and travel records
- Contact the clinic that implanted the chip
- Contact the former owner, shelter, rescue or breeder
- Check databases in countries where the animal has lived
- Open EUROPETNET for a manual foreign-database search
- Contact the microchip manufacturer or distributor
- Use ChipTrace for database, country and manufacturer clues
The chip may have been implanted but entered incorrectly.
The record may only be available inside the restricted Bulgarian veterinary system.
The animal may also have a registration in another country.
If no database result is found, the manufacturer or distributor may provide another trace-back route.
The manufacturer may be able to identify the distributor or supplier that received the chip.
The supplier may then identify the veterinary clinic, breeder, shelter or rescue that received it.
That organisation may know where the chip was implanted or registered.
They will not normally give the finder the owner’s private details.
Instead, they may contact the next organisation or the registered owner directly.
Trace-back is not guaranteed.
Records may be old, incomplete or unavailable.
A missing result does not prove that the animal has no family.
Read our guide to why a microchip may not appear in any database.
Can I add a global microchip registration?
Yes.
An additional global registration can provide another route back to the owner.
Animal-ID allows owners to create an additional record using an existing microchip number.
This may be useful in Bulgaria because the official veterinary system does not provide an open international search.
An additional global record may help when:
- The pet travels outside Bulgaria
- The animal is adopted abroad
- A finder uses an international search service
- The Bulgarian record cannot be checked easily
- The animal has a foreign or manufacturer-coded chip
This is an extra safety net.
It does not replace the official Bulgarian veterinary record.
It also does not replace the municipal dog declaration or licence.
Keep the same contact details in every active record.
How to register a dog microchip in Bulgaria
- Make an appointment with a registered Bulgarian vet.
- Take the dog and any existing documents.
- Ask the vet to scan the dog for an existing chip.
- If needed, the vet implants a microchip.
- The vet issues or updates the veterinary passport.
- The vet enters the dog and owner in the BFSA system.
- Check the complete chip number carefully.
- Check your name, address and telephone number.
- Ask the vet to confirm that the electronic record is complete.
- Declare the dog to your municipality.
Useful documents may include:
- A Bulgarian veterinary passport
- An EU pet passport
- A vaccination record
- A microchip certificate
- An adoption contract
- A purchase agreement
- A foreign registration certificate
- A municipal dog declaration
Who implants and registers the microchip?
A registered vet implants the chip and creates the official veterinary record.
The vet scans the animal first.
This checks whether a chip is already present.
If a chip is needed, the vet implants it under the skin.
The chip is then scanned again.
This confirms that it works and shows the correct number.
The vet then:
- Records the microchip number
- Issues or updates the veterinary passport
- Adds the owner’s information
- Records required treatments and vaccinations
- Enters the information in the BFSA system
Check the number and contact details carefully.
One incorrect digit can make tracing much harder.
Does the vet register the chip automatically?
The vet who officially identifies the dog should enter the information in the BFSA system.
However, it is still important to check.
Ask the vet to confirm that:
- The microchip has been registered
- The complete chip number is correct
- The dog appears under your name
- Your address is correct
- Your telephone number is current
- The passport details match the electronic record
Also ask whether the clinic provides any documents for the municipal declaration.
The vet’s registration does not automatically complete every municipal step.
What is the Bulgarian veterinary passport?
The veterinary passport is the dog’s main identification and health document.
It may include:
- The microchip number
- The date the chip was implanted
- The owner’s details
- A description of the animal
- Rabies vaccination
- Other vaccinations
- Parasite treatments
Check that the chip number in the passport matches the scanner.
A Bulgarian passport issued in the correct EU format may also be used as an EU pet passport.
However, a paper passport is not the same as the electronic BFSA record.
Changing the passport does not necessarily update the electronic system.
Does a dog owner pay a municipal fee?
Dog owners generally pay an annual fee to their municipality.
The amount is set locally.
The fee is paid to the municipality connected to the owner’s permanent address or registered office.
National exemptions include:
- Dogs belonging to people with disabilities
- Official service dogs used by publicly funded organisations
- Dogs used for approved experimental purposes
- Dogs used by the Bulgarian Red Cross
- Neutered dogs
- Dogs guarding or accompanying livestock in a registered livestock establishment
- Eligible hunting dogs owned by people with hunting rights
A dog with a newly implanted microchip may also receive a fee exemption for the first year of registration.
Ask the municipality which documents are required.
The municipal fee record does not replace the veterinary microchip registration.
How to check whether your dog’s chip is registered
There is no open owner search for the complete BFSA dog database.
Ask a registered vet to confirm:
- The complete microchip number
- The dog’s identification details
- The registered owner
- The registered address
- The telephone number
- The passport information
- The dog’s current status
Check that the chip number in the electronic record matches the scanner and passport.
Also confirm that the municipality has the correct information.
How to update a Bulgarian microchip registration
Ask a registered vet to update the record when:
- You move home
- Your telephone number changes
- The animal moves to a new owner
- The animal goes missing
- The animal is found again
- The animal moves abroad
- The animal dies
Also update the municipal record when necessary.
Changing the paper passport alone may not update the BFSA system.
Ask the vet to confirm that the electronic record has been changed.
How to transfer a Bulgarian microchip registration
The registered details must be changed when a dog moves to a new owner.
Take the dog and its documents to a registered vet.
The vet can scan the chip and update the veterinary record.
You may need:
- The veterinary passport
- An adoption contract
- A purchase agreement
- A signed transfer document
- Your identification
- Details of the former owner
Contact the municipality as well.
The local dog declaration and fee record may need a separate update.
What if the dog is still registered to someone else?
Contact the former owner, breeder, shelter or rescue first.
Ask them to help change the registration.
If that is not possible, speak to a registered vet.
Take documents showing how the dog came into your care.
The vet or authority may ask for further proof before changing the record.
A database entry shows who is listed as the owner or contact.
It may not settle a legal ownership dispute on its own.
Buying or adopting a dog in Bulgaria
Ask whether the dog has a microchip before taking it home.
Also ask for:
- The complete microchip number
- The veterinary passport
- Vaccination records
- An adoption or purchase agreement
- Proof that the chip was entered in the BFSA system
- Information about the municipal record
Ask a vet to scan the chip.
Check that the scanned number matches the passport and other documents.
The former owner, breeder, shelter or rescue should help update both the veterinary and municipal records.
What about a pet adopted from a Bulgarian rescue?
Ask the rescue which records already exist.
Also ask:
- Whether the animal has been scanned
- Who is named in the veterinary passport
- Whether the chip is in the BFSA system
- Who will update the Bulgarian registration
- Who will register the animal in its new country
- Whether the rabies and travel documents are complete
A pet adopted abroad may need records in both Bulgaria and its destination country.
Keep the Bulgarian record active until the new registration is confirmed.
What should you do if your dog goes missing?
Contact the dog’s vet as soon as possible.
Ask whether the dog can be marked as missing in the veterinary system.
Check that your telephone number is current.
Also:
- Contact local veterinary clinics
- Contact shelters and rescue groups
- Contact the municipality
- Contact the regional BFSA office when needed
- Contact local animal welfare organisations
- Inform the police when theft may be involved
- Share a clear photograph and the area where the dog disappeared
Do not publish the complete microchip number online.
Keep part of it private so that ownership claims can be checked.
When the dog returns, ask for the missing status to be updated.
Bringing an imported pet to Bulgaria
A foreign database registration does not automatically create a Bulgarian record.
If a dog will live in Bulgaria, take it to a registered Bulgarian vet.
Take:
- The animal
- Its EU pet passport or official health certificate
- Its rabies vaccination record
- The microchip certificate, when available
- Your identification
- Your Bulgarian address and telephone number
- Any foreign registration documents
The vet will scan the existing chip.
A readable foreign chip does not normally need to be replaced.
The vet can enter the dog and owner in the Bulgarian system.
Ask the municipality about the local declaration and annual fee.
Keep the foreign registration active until the Bulgarian record is confirmed.
Travelling with a pet to or from Bulgaria
Microchip registration and border rules are separate.
For most journeys within the EU, dogs, cats and ferrets need:
- A readable microchip
- A valid rabies vaccination
- An EU pet passport
The chip normally needs to be implanted before, or on the same day as, the rabies vaccination used for travel.
A clearly readable tattoo may still be accepted when it was applied before 3 July 2011.
Pets arriving from some countries outside the EU may also need:
- An EU animal health certificate
- A rabies antibody titre test
- Entry through an approved travellers’ point
- Customs or veterinary checks
The exact requirements depend on the country of departure and type of journey.
Check the latest Bulgarian Food Safety Agency and EU guidance before travelling.
Useful Bulgarian microchip links
Bulgarian Food Safety Agency
Read official veterinary and pet-travel information
BFSA regional contacts
Find a regional food safety office
Bulgarian Veterinary Medical Activities Act
Read the legal rules for dog identification and registration
EUROPETNET
Complete a manual search for a possible foreign registration
Animal-ID
Create an additional global microchip registration