Introduction Carbapenems are last-resort antibiotics to treat human infections, and their use in animals has been prohibited in the EU since 2022. Nevertheless, carbapenem-resistant (CP-R) Enterobacterales are sporadically but regularly reported in companion animals across Europe, with an epidemiology mirroring the one in humans in the same country, as for VIM-1 reported in a dog in Spain where this enzyme is frequent in hospitals. The goal of this study was to assess the emergence of CP-R Klebsiella pneumoniae in sick cats and dogs in France. Methods Strains were collected through the Resapath, the French network for the surveillance of resistance in pathogens of animal origin. Since veterinary laboratories do not test for carbapenems, all isolates resistant to last-generation cephalosporins were screened for ertapenem/temocillin-resistance by antibiograms. All resistant isolates were whole-genome sequenced using the Illumina technology. Long-read sequencing of a subset of isolates is ongoing. Results CP-R K. pneumoniae (n=67) were collected between 2014 and 2023 and originated from dogs (n=37), cats (n=28), one horse and one bird. All isolates presented the blaOXA-48 gene carried by an IncL plasmid, and no other carbapenemase was found. The main sequence types identified were ST11 (n=26), ST15 (n=13) and ST307 (n=14). Thirty isolates, mainly belonging to ST15 and ST307, co-harboured the blaCTX-M-15 gene; 26 other isolates (mostly belonging to ST11) co-carried the blaDHA-1 gene; two ST685 isolates also presented the blaCTX-M-14 gene. Local outbreaks was suspected in a few veterinary clinics. Discussion and conclusions Underestimating the issue of CP-R in animals, and especially companion animals, on the grounds that carbapenems are not used in veterinary medicine would surely be an error, given the emergence of CP-R observed in this study. Even if humans were probably at the origin of the contamination, the blaOXA-48 genes were carried by IncL plasmids that spread with a very high efficiency and can create human-independent secondary reservoirs. In the future, French veterinary laboratories will be advised to add a temocillin disk in their routine antibiograms, in order to efficiently monitor CP-R isolates.