Downey, CA Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Section 4271, added by Ordinance 806 in 1985, is explicit that Downey's cat license exists "to provide a method for identifying cats" and "shall not require the licensing of cats, but merely provide for their optional licensing," issued under the same Part 4 licensing procedure used for dogs. That stands in contrast to Downey's mandatory dog license, which ties the fee to whether the dog is spayed or neutered; cats carry no equivalent mandate or fee differential. Because cats are not required to wear a license, Downey's impound rules for stray cats turn on whether the animal has some other form of identification.

" A cat with no identification gets only five working days before the shelter may destroy it, except that a cat the Director determines to be wild can be disposed of immediately on impoundment. Downey also separately regulates cat breeding and cat kennels: Section 4269 requires a breeding permit from the Director for anyone keeping a cat for breeding purposes, and Section 4270 bars maintaining a cat kennel anywhere except on industrially zoned property with an approved kennel permit. None of these sections establish a feral-colony trap-neuter-return program; Downey's code is silent on managed feral colonies.