Decatur, AL Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Sec. 4-1 of the Code of Decatur, Alabama, puts the city animal shelter under a poundmaster and directs that officer to pick up any cat or kitten found running at large off the owner's premises when the animal is strayed, abandoned, injured, rabid, or otherwise a threat, nuisance, or menace to people or other animals. Sec. 4-8 defines a cat as a domestic feline three months of age or older and a kitten as one under three months, so both are covered. A captured cat is held at least 48 hours unless the owner redeems it sooner, and no longer than one calendar week, after which the shelter can destroy it humanely or sell it.

The owner can appear at the shelter any time before disposal and identify the animal. The first impound brings a written warning for the first day of boarding plus a ten-dollar boarding fee for each day or fraction. From the second impound on, the owner pays a $35 redemption fee for the first day plus $10 for each later day. The director or shelter manager has the authority to work with owners on the fees. Under Sec. 4-1(c), an owner who cannot verify that the cat or kitten has been spayed or neutered pays an added $25 unaltered animal redemption fee, then has 45 days to show proof of the surgery, at which point the $25 goes to the veterinarian who performed it. An owner who declines to have the animal altered forfeits the $25 to the city.

The restraint duty in Sec. 4-2 is written for dogs, so cats are reached through Sec. 4-1 and through Sec. 16-15, which makes it unlawful to keep any domestic or farm animal or fowl, including cats and dogs, in a way that is a menace to public health or a public or private nuisance from insects, vermin, obnoxious odors, or noises. Under Sec. 4-3, an animal suspected of rabies is taken up and confined by the poundmaster or another enforcement officer. Cats adopted from Decatur Animal Services must be surgically altered before they leave the shelter (Sec. 4-40(c)).