Carteret County, NC Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Carteret County's animal control ordinance (Chapter 3, Article I) requires every dog and cat in the unincorporated county to wear a collar with the owner's name and address firmly attached, per County Code § 3-2. Any cat over four months old must also be inoculated against rabies, with the rabies tag displayed on the collar as state law requires. The county's animal control warden, the health director, or any sworn law enforcement officer can demand proof of rabies vaccination on the spot; refusing or failing to produce it is itself a separate violation of § 3-2, independent of any at-large charge.

Cats that end up in the county's animal control shelter, run under contract by the Carteret County Humane Society, are held there under § 3-5. If a cat carries no collar or tag, the shelter attempts to trace the owner using whatever identification it finds; if none exists and the shelter determines the cat is feral, § 3-5(c) lets the Humane Society humanely dispose of it after waiting 72 hours from intake, rather than holding it for the standard adoption period. Owners reclaiming a cat pay pick-up fees that double with each repeat offense: $5.00 for the first pick-up, $10.00 for the second, $20.00 for the third, plus $5.00 for having no I.D., $5.00 for inoculation and deworming, and $2.50 per day of boarding with a $12.50 minimum.

Any cat adopted out of the shelter must be spayed or neutered within six months of adoption under § 3-5(a). Every violation of Chapter 3 is a misdemeanor under § 3-7, punishable by up to a $50.00 fine or 30 days imprisonment, plus a civil penalty of $50.00 per day the violation continues.