Elkhart County, IN Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Section 90.13 of the Elkhart County Code of Ordinances, part of the animal control chapter adopted by Ordinance 09-396 on December 7, 2009, addresses free-roaming and feral cats directly: a colony caretaker who provides food, water and shelter for one or more free-roaming cats is not deemed the 'owner' of those cats, and nothing in the chapter prohibits a caretaker from maintaining a MANAGED COLONY. Section 90.01 defines that term precisely: a colony registered with a sponsoring animal control agency and maintained by a caretaker using Trap-Neuter-Return, or TNR, methodology, meaning cats are trapped, spayed or neutered, vaccinated against rabies, identified for record-keeping and returned to where they congregate. A FREE-ROAMING CAT is any feral, homeless, stray or untamed cat, and a FERAL CAT is one born in the wild or separated from domestication and adapted to life outdoors.

Cats an owner actually keeps or harbors still fall under the chapter's general rules. Section 90.08 requires that no owner keep or harbor a dog, cat or ferret over three months old without a current rabies vaccination, with proof to be shown to a law enforcement officer or animal control agent on request. The AT LARGE and general care provisions of § 90.02, covering sanitary confinement, food and water, and freedom from abandonment or abuse, apply to owned cats the same as any other domestic animal. A colony caretaker's protection under § 90.13 does not extend to owned cats that are neglected or that harass neighbors or wildlife off the caretaker's own property, since the ownership carve-out is limited to the colony context.