Gardena, CA Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Gardena adopts the Los Angeles County Code's Title 10 animal control regulations wholesale under Municipal Code Section 6.02.010, but the city carves out one specific exception for cats in Section 6.02.040: notwithstanding any provision of Title 10 of the Los Angeles County Code, there is no requirement to license a cat in the City of Gardena. That exception was added by Ordinance 1610, Section 5, in 2001, and it remains in force, meaning the county's mandatory dog-licensing and rabies-tag framework found elsewhere in Title 10, including the annual fee and delinquency-charge rules in Section 10.20.120 and the guard-dog licensing duty in Section 10.20.280, does not extend to cats inside city limits.

A cat owner who chooses to license the animal voluntarily may still do so through the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control, which administers licensing for the city under contract, but no citation or fine attaches to an unlicensed cat purely for lacking a license. The voluntary status does not excuse a cat owner from the general animal-care duties in Section 10.40.010, covering food, water, shelter, sanitation and freedom from neglect, or from the animal-nuisance provisions in Section 10.40.065, which still let the Department order an owner to correct a cat that bites, strays repeatedly, or damages neighboring property, with a misdemeanor for failing to comply after written notice.