DuPage County, IL Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Sec. 5-8, RESTRICTIONS ON CONTROLLED CATS AND DOGS, sets two rules that apply directly to cats. Subsection A bars cats and dogs from any place where food is processed for human consumption, exempting only guide dogs and guard dogs used at food establishments. Subsection B bars cats and dogs, except guide dogs, from being present at or upon school premises, a public playground, or a public swimming pool "unless official written permission has been granted by the public agency or its agent owning the property," and separately bans cats and dogs outright from any sandbox or sand pile where children play, with no permission exception for that clause.

Sec. 5-9 then addresses female cats in heat: any cat or dog in estrus must be confined in a building or secure enclosure and attended so that it cannot contact a male of the same species except for planned breeding. DuPage County also defines "feral cat" in Sec. 5-2 as any cat that is undomesticated, untamed, or has returned to the wild, and gives feral cats a shorter mandatory hold, not less than three days versus seven for other strays, when impounded under Sec. 5-7(A)(2). Reclaimed cats, feral or owned, must be microchipped before release under that same section. None of these provisions require a separate county cat license; DuPage County's registration and rabies-tag system in Sec. 5-4 applies equally to cats and dogs four months or older.