Calvert County, MD Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Section 7-3-201 requires an owner or custodian of a dog or cat over four months old to obtain a license from Animal Services or a licensed veterinarian within 30 days of establishing County residency or of the animal turning four months old, and to renew it annually, or every three years if the cat has a three-year rabies vaccination purchased within six months of the shot. Section 7-1-201 defines a COMMUNITY CAT as an unowned cat that lives outdoors in the community, whether feral, friendly, born wild, or lost or abandoned, and a COMMUNITY CAT CAREGIVER as a person or group that, in a good-faith trap-neuter-return effort, provides food, shelter and medical care without becoming the cat's owner; a sterilized and vaccinated community cat is marked by EARTIPPING, the removal of up to one-quarter inch from the left ear tip by a licensed veterinarian.

Section 7-3-201(F) exempts community cats, along with cats kept for rodent control on agriculturally assessed land, from the licensing and tag requirement, and § 7-6-101(C) separately exempts community cats from the animal-at-large prohibition that otherwise bars letting a cat roam off its owner's property. Cats not covered by these exemptions must display their license tag on a collar or harness unless the cat carries an identifying microchip.