Franklin County, FL Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Franklin County's Animal Control Ordinance, Chapter 4, Article II, treats cats mostly the same as dogs but singles them out in a few places. Section 4-6 defines a 'feral animal' as any wild dog or cat, whether born in the wild or reverted to a wild state through abandonment or lack of domestication. Section 4-12(c) then classifies any feral animal as a public nuisance by definition, and directs that it be impounded and humanely euthanized; unlike other stray animals, a feral cat or dog is not entitled to the minimum holding period the code otherwise requires before disposition.

Section 4-11(d) imposes a specific confinement duty tied to breeding: the owner of a female dog or cat in estrus must keep her confined in a building, secure enclosure, veterinary hospital or boarding kennel so she cannot come into contact with a male dog or cat, except when the owner intends the animal to breed. Cats are also swept into the county's general rabies-vaccination duty under Section 4-8, which requires every cat four months or older to carry a current rabies vaccination from a licensed veterinarian, and into the shelter-adoption spay and neuter requirement of Section 4-19.

The code does not, however, require an owner to license a pet cat the way some counties require dog licenses, and it does not set a separate at-large penalty schedule for cats apart from the general animal-control fine schedule in Section 4-7.