Miami-Dade County licenses owned cats under Chapter 5 and operates a Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return community-cat program for outdoor colonies, balancing humane management with public-health rabies vaccination requirements.
Owned cats in unincorporated Miami-Dade must be licensed annually, vaccinated against rabies, and microchipped just like dogs. For free-roaming community cats, Animal Services partners with caregivers to operate a Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return (TNVR) program: caregivers trap cats, the county sterilizes and vaccinates them, and ear-tipped cats are returned to managed colonies. Caregivers register with the program and must remove sick or aggressive cats. Letting an owned cat roam unaltered or unvaccinated can still trigger nuisance citations, especially when neighbors complain about wildlife predation or property damage.
Caregivers running unregistered colonies, or owners who release unaltered cats to roam, face civil citations and may be required to remove or sterilize cats at owner expense.
See how Hialeah's cat rules rules stack up against other locations.
Help us keep this page accurate. If you notice an error or outdated information, let us know.