Boone County, IN Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Boone County Code § 93.01 defines a COLONY as a group of one or more feral cats, whether unmanaged or managed, a FERAL CAT as any cat with no apparent owner or identification that is wild, untamed, unsocialized, unmanageable, or unable to be approached or handled, and a MANAGED COLONY as a colony registered with a humane society or its designee and maintained by a caretaker using trap, neuter, and return methodology. Those definitions matter because § 93.02(H), the chapter's abandonment provision, otherwise makes it unlawful to knowingly, intentionally, or recklessly abandon a domestic animal, or to abandon one on private property the person controls unless it is checked on routinely; division (H)(4) carves colonies and feral cats out of that entire division, so a registered caretaker feeding and managing a TNR colony is not exposed to an abandonment charge.

Chapter 93 imposes no cat licensing requirement and no cat-specific leash or confinement rule. The general at-large prohibition in § 93.02(D)(1) applies only within incorporated areas of the county, so it does not reach cats in unincorporated Boone County by its own terms. Cats three months or older still must be vaccinated against rabies under § 93.02(G)(2), with revaccination intervals tied to the vaccine label, and § 93.99(A) fines the owner of any domestic animal found roaming at large or stray $50 for a first offense and $100 for each later offense within a year, where that at-large rule does apply.