Bonita Springs, FL Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Cats in the City of Bonita Springs are covered by Chapter 8 (Animals) and by the Lee County domestic animal services program that enforces it. The chapter defines animal to include dogs, cats and ferrets, so the at-large ban in Sec. 8-13, the rabies rule in Sec. 8-19, the license rule in Sec. 8-20 and the identification rule in Sec. 8-21 all reach cats. Sec. 8-19 requires rabies vaccination at four months of age, and Sec. 8-20(b) requires a county license at four months. The license must ride on a collar or harness, but a cat with a microchip registered to the owner with current name, address and phone number is exempt from attaching the tag.

Sec. 8-9(d) creates the colony exemption. A caregiver of a community cat or community cat colony furnishes the director of county domestic animal services a signed statement agreeing to six conditions: regular feeding including weekends and holidays under sanitary conditions; regular and frequent trapping of cats over 12 weeks of age for sterilization; ear-tipping and microchipping every community cat; rabies vaccination; humane euthanasia of any cat with illness or injury that cannot be treated; and no release of cats onto private or public property without the property owner's permission. Under Sec. 8-9(e) a caregiver found in violation first gets a written warning and up to and including 30 days to comply, and failure to comply can lead to a citation.

Caregiver is defined in Sec. 8-1 as anyone who provides food, water or shelter to any animal, feral or domesticated, over ten days or longer. Feral animal means any wild cat or dog, born wild or reverted through abandonment. That matters at the shelter: under Sec. 8-25(d), feral animals without a valid county license and/or microchip can be humanely euthanized upon impoundment, while a stray with either is held five consecutive days. Sec. 8-16 also requires a female cat in season to be confined in a building or secure enclosure, and a fenced yard does not count.