Ames, IA Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Sec. 3.107 of the Ames Municipal Code applies to every dog, cat and horse kept within the City of Ames, brought in for a show, exhibition or performance, or simply passing through, and requires the owner to obtain a rabies vaccination for the animal between three and four months of age and again at whatever interval the vaccine manufacturer specifies. The duty does not reach cats continuously held in secure cages while in transit, or cats assigned to research, biologics production, or a licensed animal shelter.

Sec. 3.110 layers on a visible-compliance rule: any cat over four months old must wear a collar or harness bearing a valid rabies tag, with the same exemption structure for a cat being exhibited or trained at a kennel club event, or transported to and from one, provided the owner or trainer carries proof of current vaccination and registration. Sec. 3.108 separately obligates any cat owner, or anyone with knowledge of a bite or attack, to report a suspected rabies case to a local enforcement officer, and Sec.

3.109 lets the animal control officer order a ten-day confinement at the shelter or a veterinarian's care when a cat has bitten someone or is suspected of rabies, with confinement at the owner's home allowed only if vaccination records are in order and no clinical suspicion of rabies exists. Ames has no separate cat-licensing fee schedule or feral-colony ordinance; rabies vaccination and tagging are the operative citywide cat rules.