Ashwaubenon, WI Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Section 4-2-37 of the Ashwaubenon Municipal Code treats cats and dogs the same way once rabies is suspected, unlike the Village's licensing rule in Section 4-2-34, which adopts Wis. ch. 174 for dog licensing only and imposes no equivalent cat license. Under Section 4-2-37(A)(1), a public safety officer or community services specialist must order a cat quarantined if there is reason to believe it bit a person, is infected with rabies, or has been in contact with a rabid animal; if the cat cannot be captured for quarantine, the officer may kill it as a last resort or with the owner's agreement, doing so humanely and avoiding the animal's head.

Section 4-2-37(B)(1) requires the officer to deliver the cat to an isolation facility within 24 hours of the order, unless it can instead be quarantined at the owner's home when the animal is currently vaccinated against rabies. If the cat is suspected of biting a person, Section 4-2-37(B)(2) requires it be kept under a veterinarian's supervision in strict isolation for at least ten days, with examinations on the first day, the last day and one day in between; if it shows no rabies signs by the end of that period it can be released.

A cat merely exposed to a rabid animal but unvaccinated must instead be leashed or confined for 180 days and then vaccinated between 155 and 165 days after exposure, or for 60 days if already vaccinated, under Section 4-2-37(B)(3). Any cat that develops rabies symptoms during isolation must be humanely destroyed under Section 4-2-37(B)(4), with the owner and any bitten person notified.