Chelan County, WA Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

060(a) limits mandatory licensing to dogs, requiring a license for every dog four months or older found in a designated urban growth area; there is no parallel county license for cats. Cats are instead governed through the rabies-control chapter. 070(a) requires dogs and cats over six months old to have a current rabies vaccination administered by a licensed veterinarian, and anyone who buys, obtains, or moves into the county with a dog or cat over six months old has thirty days to get it vaccinated.

Subsection (b) defines a "current" vaccination as one given between three months and one year of age that is then revaccinated within a year and at least every three years after that. Subsection (c) requires any cat or dog that has bitten a person to be confined for ten days immediately, with the confinement location set by the investigating agency at the owner's expense; if a different kind of animal bites someone, the local health officer decides whether to order confinement, destruction, or testing. Subsection (d) makes it unlawful to release a quarantined animal without the confining officer's approval, and subsection (e) makes it unlawful for an owner to destroy a biting animal before it can be confined, or to refuse to produce it on a peace or humane officer's demand; refusal can lead to arrest, and each day of concealment is a separate violation.

Subsections (f) and (g) require the diagnosing veterinarian or investigating officer to notify the local health officer and the animal control authority whenever an animal is found rabid or has been bitten by or exposed to a rabid or suspected rabid animal.