Edison, NJ Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Section 9-8.5 requires anyone who 'owns, keeps, harbors or maintains a cat of licensing age' (defined at § 9-7 as seven months old, or with a full set of permanent teeth) to procure an annual license and registration tag from the Township's licensing authority, and specifies the license 'shall not be transferable.' Under § 9-8.6, the license window runs from January 1 through January 31 each year, and a newly acquired cat or one that reaches licensing age at another time must be licensed within ten days. Before a license issues, § 9-8.1 requires proof the cat has been vaccinated against rabies by a licensed veterinarian, following the current Compendium of Animal Rabies Vaccines and Recommendations for Immunization; newly acquired cats must be vaccinated within ten days of acquisition. The owner must keep the registration tag on the cat's collar or harness at all times and produce proof of licensing on request of any authorized agent, per § 9-8.12.

Beyond licensing, § 9-11.2 makes it unlawful for an owner to 'permit or allow any cat of licensing age to run at large,' and § 9-11.4 separately bans abandoning any cat 'no matter what its age or condition' anywhere in the Township. A cat picked up unlicensed or as a stray can be impounded under § 9-9 and, if unclaimed within seven days of written notice to a known owner, offered for adoption or destroyed. The Code also carves out an exception relevant to feral colonies: § 34-5.3 exempts 'feral cats as part of an approved Trap-Neuter-Release program' from the Township's separate ban on feeding unconfined wildlife in parks.