Hackensack, NJ Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Article VI, adopted in 1990, governs cats separately from the dog rules in Article II. Section 52-32A requires every cat over seven months of age to be vaccinated against rabies and licensed before it can be owned, kept, harbored, or maintained in the city, with exceptions for cats in a cattery, a licensed research facility, a veterinary establishment, or a licensed shelter, pound, or kennel. Section 52-32B requires the rabies vaccination to follow the current Compendium of Animal Rabies Vaccines and Recommendations for Immunization, administered by a licensed veterinarian, and Section 52-32D lets the local Board of Health exempt a cat for a set period on a veterinarian's certificate of medical inadvisability.

Section 52-33A requires the license number to be displayed on a collar, break-away collar, elastic collar, or registration sleeve at all times, and Section 52-33B requires application within 10 days of acquiring a cat of licensing age, except for nonresidents keeping a cat in the city no more than 90 days. Section 52-33D requires the application to state the cat's breed, sex, age, color, markings, and coat length, and that information is kept on file for three years. Section 52-33C requires a license within 90 days for a cat already licensed elsewhere brought into the city, or within 10 days for one that arrives unlicensed. Every license expires January 31 under Section 52-33H, and license fees fund rabies control, antirabies treatment, and cat impoundment under Section 52-33K.