Town Puts Limits On Cat Ownership

I wish I had a fine.... I can't have more than 3... Period!

Our town limits pet ownership according to the size of your lot. Legally, we're at our limit with the 3 we have. But animal control officers make it clear that the law is to keep down complaints, not to restrict normal pet ownership.

Many of our shelter workers are above the limit, for example.

On the other hand, it is also illegal to let a cat or dog run free in our town. If a cat's outdoors outside of your yard, it's subject to being picked up by animal control.

Nobody has a right to say how many cats or pets I can have in my house. We own our house and pay property taxes. I'm really getting tired of government making decisions and laws like this. They always have to take an example of something that a tiny few of the % of the population do and make examples so they can lay down the law.

I live in a small town and they aren't dictating laws like that where i live. I think it's really wrong.

In the city I used to live in, they said you could not own more than 3 cats and or dogs. I said oh yeah?? I had 8 and no one from the city was going to tell me otherwise. Someone from the city once told me about their ordinance. I told them to bad, I am going to own as many as I want. My property, my RIGHT to own as many cats as I desire, as long as they are properly cared for.

^Exactly. As long as you keep them on your property and every animal is healthy (or being provided vet care) it is absolutely no one's business but yours.

Parts of OKC has limits and breed restrictions, as do a lot of areas. People need to be aware when these ordinances are up and show up at town halls to fight them. Even people that only have one or two animals, or none, could be enlisted because these are unnecessary laws that take away peoples rights.


Further reading on that story: it wasn't just the cats themselves that was the problem. Apparently the neighbors felt that the woman was rude to them? Which makes this little incident (her being reported) a neighborly dispute.

We have a 3 pet limit in my city, but as far as I can tell it's never invoked except as an excuse to seize abused/mistreated animals. If you have 10 dogs, the ACO's don't really care as long as they're taken care of, but if someone has more than 3 and they're abused or neglected, it makes it a lot easier for the animal control to pick them up without having to prove abuse.

When I came home this evening, DH told me about this story, and I almost laughed in disbelief. I had to share here and see if any of you have heard of this being done before?

http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dl...NEWS/911030327

I understand that some people are hoarders and/or are not responsible enough to properly care for several animals, but this law seems a bit over the top to me. I mean, what will they require for people to do in order to get a kennel license? It just sounds a little ridiculous to me. I have three cats, and although I don't want to own any more, I wouldn't mind fostering in the future (if DH would ever let me.) How would the city handle those situations, I wonder? What do you all think? Do you know of other towns that have similar laws?

If you're fostering for an organization they may be able to cover for you. I know that people who keep restricted native animals (state laws say people can't own them or own over a specific number) will often work with their vets or an organization and get it covered that way. I used to know of one woman that took in seriously ill/damaged ornate box turtles. Ones so badly messed up they could not be rereleased. Texas passed that messed up white list a couple years ago and she had to get her vet to write up some paperwork and vouch for her so she won't be at risk for getting fined.

Maybe those who work for or with shelters/rescue groups can further detail you on what rights a foster home has and how they're protected from this?

Otherwise, for the debate look in IMO section.

There are quite a few towns over here that have pet limits, but you can apply and pay for a permit to keep more.

We have a 3 pet limit (dog and/or cat) in our city as well but as far as I know it hasn't been strictly enforce unless someone seriously complains or in cases of neglect or obvious hording. The next city up has a 6 cat or 3 dog ordinanace (sp?).

If my town told me that I needed to "get rid of" any of my cats, I'd tell them to go **** themselves, and I wouldn't be kind about it.

Council regulations here, are no more than 2 of any animal. You can be fined for it if they catch you. Good thing all mine are indoors. When I had 9 (and it's grown considerably since then) 3 were outdoors, and 5 indoors, and although my neighbors of over a year knew I had one cat, when I moved out, they nearly choked when I told them how many I really had.

Council, as I said can go **** themselves. The RSPCA know how many I have. They have even visited them, just to check on them, since, how many I have is unusual, and have said, that they have no problem with me keeping them, and that they can see they are well taken care of. What right do council have to tell me I need to give up what I consider to be family members?

However, I can understand one thing on councils behalf. I, having so many cats, especially indoors, go through about 60-70lb of kitty litter per week. Further more, I go through about 20lb of cat food a day or more depending whether they want more. Then there are the cleanup supplies, like tissues, newspaper etc. My point is, all this, creates a large supply of bio waste, and council may be worried about how more animals could affect health standards.

I work hard to keep my environment clean for me and them to live in, so that they can be healthy etc. Hair cleanup, sanitizing water and food bowls, cleaning up hairball-vomits, or if one misses the tray, or if litter gets kicked out. Council is supposed to protect health standards and the waste can add a bigger demand on council resources, so potentially this pisses them off. That and the local wildlife at risk.

Anyway I really feel for that lady. Hopefully she can sell her house and move to a more tolerant area. If she is however letting her cats outdoors and owns her house, I really wish she would enclose her backyard, thus stopping the problems of neighbors being annoyed AND protecting her cats.

The link wouldn't link up for me. Is this the Duxbury, MA case? I live in Mass. Duxbury is a well-to-do town so the woman who complained is probably one of those "desperate housewives" with nothing better than to complain all day. Just kidding.

I agree that if my neighbor had over a dozen cats roaming around and using my lawn as a litter box I would have concerns also. The woman who owns all the cats should understand this, how would she like it if someones 10 dogs were roaming into her yard and defecating/urinating there?? Easy to solve if you keep them in or use any of the means out there to make your fencing cat proof.

What I don't understand is the 3 cat limit. I think it should be on a case by case basis. If they are taken care of if shouldn't be an issue. That would mean if I lived there and decided to get one more cat I would have to move. I saw a video of the cats and they look healthy and well cared for (looks can be deceiving though). I was wondering too about my town, if they have a limit also. Kinda scary that they can decide one day to air out these dormant laws and could force your hand to take your animals away or make a quick move.

I am not exactly sure what the laws are here,but I think it is 3 cats or something along those lines too.However it is not enforced.I know several people who have more then 3 cats and even have 4-5 dogs.
If they are being cared for properly,I don't see any problems.

I do know a girl who lives in a tiny apartment with 11 cats and 1 litterbox.She works at a vet,so she should know better...but she doesn't.I no longer talk to her (personal issues),but she does have way too many cats for her situation!

I just saw the article on my local news station. It was Dudley not Duxbury....oops! Paying $50/yr. to have more than 3 is not so bad if you wish to stay living in that town. I would probably move though, never know when they could change it to banning completely. It would always be a worry in the back of my mind.


11 cats and ONE LITTER BOX....that is seriously gross. i wonder if her neighbors can smell it?

I know it is gross.I always smelled it.
I no longer talk to her,so she could of changed things (I hope)...but the last time I heard,she didn't.Her issue is she cannot say NO to a cat needing a home.

The city just introduced a new law a few months back,all cats and dogs have to be registered.I still have not gotten the tags for my cats,because the office is so far away.But I plan on it.It is $10 a year I believe,per animal.

^Does that registration require that each animal be annually vaccinated - completely ignoring the risk of vaccine-associated sarcoma or animals that can't handle vaccinations? Or is it more aimed at dogs so they don't care about that?

A lot of these ordinances are passed with more thought towards dogs - an "easier" to understand and more socially accepted animal to have as pets. Cats, and their different health concerns, aren't often as thought of.

Sorry for posting in the wrong place...

I guess my problem with this whole thing is the principle of government intervening in people's lives unnecessarily. I agree that if someone's animals are destroying property or causing problems in the neighborhood, that needs to be dealt with by the authorities. I have almost called animal control on some dog owners around me before because my dog and I were being terrorized by them... But I also believe that these things must be dealt with on a case by case basis, like fifi said. But in the end, I'm not at all affected by these types of laws where I live, at least none that I've ever heard of...so I guess I'll just hope to never move to a place where they make these silly laws!

Oh, it wasn't so much that - but that someone had beat you to starting a thread about this.

All you can do is ask before you move into a neighborhood.

I am not sure,so I just looked into it.I found this...

http://www.spcastjohns.org/index.php...t01returnid=58

However someone told me cats had to be registered as well.But it doesn't mention anything about cats needing to be registered on this website.

Maybe your vet would know?

Generally it's neighbors who turn people in for stuff like this. City code enforcers can ask to see the property/home for various reasons and your home insurance can request to view inside your home - either of those could report you. DH has a friend who was dropped from one insurance company after an agent viewing the property noticed he had an American Bulldog. He had to shop around to find one that didn't care about breeds. Had this town had a breed ban, he could have been reported.

Here it is the vets that turn you in. They have to report rabies vaccination info to the county. The county then gives it to your city, and if you don't license you get a ticket.

Of course, that does nothing for the people who never vaccinate, spay/neuter, or see the vet for anything. On the surface looks like it stops hoarders, but it really doesn't since hoarders don't usually take their animals to the vet anyway.

Our city has a limit of 4 total cats and dogs. So being that I have 3 cats already, I could only get 1 more or 1 dog. There also used to be a lower fee for cat licensing, but dog owners complained. There's a leash law, so roaming cats are a no-no. Being that I live off of 2 pretty busy streets, it's not that smart to let them roam in our neighborhood anyway.

That's the way it is here. All it takes is one complaint to animal control, and they show up at your door inspecting your home, checking rabies vaccination info, and licensing. One of our friends has a neighbor that is quite a piece of work, the neighbor called AC on them because the dog was in the yard for 20 minutes. She's turned in other people on their block too.

I don't think we can get a kennel license anymore (for more than 4 animals). It used to be offered but I think that was 10+ years ago.

If someone tried to tell me I couldnt have my babies Id tell them to shove it..And not that politely. I get hassled all the time by BFs step mother who KNOWS ALL and my probation officer! None of them mind Franklin but oh dear me heaven forbid Ive got 3 cats! Im a crazy cat lady, I need to get rid of them or as one probation officer said "take em out back and shoot em who needs d*** cats anyways". Well I got livid when that was said and told my p.o. that if he ever brought that a**h*** back to my house he better bring his handcuffs cuz his coworker is gonna get his butt kicked by a girl!!!!!
Around here only dogs need licensed annually and you only need a rabies vaccine for any pets you have. But as far as I know there is no limit to how many pets you have or anything like that. Atleast Ive never heard of there being any limitations!

Many cities have restrictions on how many pets you can have. I really don't mind the restriction. It may be there house but it is not just there neighborhood. To many animals can be a nuisance or even a health issue toward others. It seems to me that the neighborhood was having problems with these cats. There is no way the city is just going to search everyones house to see how many animals they have so chances are if they are not causing problems then the city will never find out. However if this is a new law I feel that it is ridicules for someone who already had more cats then the limit before the law went into effect to be fined or have to choose which to keep and which to get rid of.

yeah, I don't know why this one made the news . Lots of places have these restrictions, maybe this lady just made a bigger stink about it? I know someone who used to live in Omaha, NE (she just moved here), and they also have a3-cat limit, and she had 6 at the time. She had to buy a cattery license. I think it normally costs around $300, but she got it free because she fostered for the shelter. Odd how some things get a lot of publicity when it happens all the time and you never hear about it.

I don't know.I can always ask her.

^ Goodluck.

That depends on what you mean by "hear about it". Do you mean, people that usually only occasionally watch/read news and only see stuff like this happening when it's reported, or do you mean people that actually seek out sources and read information on bills/laws being passed about animals and ones already passed that have had negative consequences? Cause it's mentioned, a lot, in the latter case and there are groups out trying to fight what they can (since AR groups often stick their noses into it).
There are some towns that even have it set up where you can't have more than two of any animal species - not cat, not dog, fish, rodent, rabbit, bird, reptile, etc. The goal with these is to eventually affect breeders and those raising animals for food - to get it banned.

That would be a problem with me,since I do have small rodents and usually have more then two....fortunatly that is not a law here and I hope never does become one.

It all depends on how laws are written and who is enforcing them. In some areas an AC officer could inspect your home, says it stinks (rodents have that rodent smell - it can't be helped), and take your pets when otherwise they might overlook you slightly being over the limit without anything else to charge you with.