Brookhaven, GA Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Chapter 5 of the Code of the City of Brookhaven, Georgia handles unowned cats through a community cat program instead of a stray-and-destroy rule. Sec. 5-1 defines the program as capture, transport to a veterinarian for evaluation, spay/neuter surgery, rabies vaccination and surgical ear-tip marking, then return to the area or location where the cat was captured. A cat carrying that ear-tip is a community cat, and a community cat is not classified as a stray animal. Sec. 5-25(d) confirms that cats in the program are exempt from the registration, licensing and stray animal provisions and are not deemed abandoned when returned to the location where captured.

Impoundment is narrow. Under Sec. 5-19(e), an unhealthy community cat is impounded, but a healthy one is not unless it damages the property of a person or legal entity that seeks its impoundment, or creates unsanitary conditions, offensive or objectionable odors. A healthy cat impounded on those grounds is transferred to a qualified adoption facilitator or disposed of by the city or its designee. Sec. 5-19(d) lets a stray cat with no traceable form of identification, once impounded and deemed eligible, move immediately into the program.

Owned cats carry duties too. Under Sec. 5-17, the owner of a cat three months old or older must keep a current rabies vaccination, register the cat with the city, pay the registration fee, and provide a collar or harness worn at all times with the rabies tag. Sec. 5-1 allows a cat to be deemed unowned when it is found on the property of a person disclaiming ownership and displays no traceable identification. Sec. 5-4 speaks of an animal without limiting itself to dogs, and Sec. 5-1 defines animal as every living vertebrate except a human being. Sec. 5-29 requires an OCVI health certificate whenever a cat is sold or exchanged for valuable consideration, and Sec. 5-33 bans transient sales of cats at roadsides, parks, flea markets and commercial or retail parking lots.