Freehold Township, NJ Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Chapter 368 of the Township Code, adopted by the Board of Health of the Township of Freehold, splits cat regulation into inoculation (Article I) and licensing (Article II). Every cat over six months must have a current rabies vaccination, with documentation available on request to any Township animal-control agent; an uninoculated cat can be confiscated and impounded, and reclaiming it requires paying all confiscation, impoundment and inoculation fees. Separately, any cat of licensing age (seven months, or one with a full set of permanent teeth) kept in the Township as of March 1 must be licensed before that date, with a $11 base fee per cat and an additional $19 fee for any unsterilized cat of reproductive age.

Licenses expire on the last day of April the following year and require a veterinarian's rabies certificate at application. or otherwise create a nuisance, and must not let it damage lawns, shrubbery or other property. The Animal Control Officer, appointed under § 79-12, impounds cats running at large, strays, and unspayed females in season found off their owner's premises; a seizure carries a $50 administrative fee plus impoundment costs and a $10 processing fee if unclaimed. If a cat bites someone, the owner must have it examined by a veterinarian within 12 hours, quarantined for 10 days, and re-examined with a written health report sent to the Board of Health.

Separately, Chapter 380's public-health nuisance code, also Board of Health law, flags maintaining, harboring or allowing six or more cats on any property as a public health nuisance in its own right.