Hudson, NH Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Chapter 188's noise and at-large provisions in Section 188-3 define 'ANIMAL' to mean domestic livestock, pets and fowl 'except a dog or cat,' so cats fall outside the noisy-animal and at-large-animal rules that apply to dogs, fowl and livestock. The chapter's only cat-specific language sits inside the 'OWNER/KEEPER' definition at Section 188-3A: a person who feeds or shelters a stray cat outdoors does not become that cat's legal owner or keeper under Hudson's code, because the definition expressly does not include a person caring for a feral cat as a feral cat caregiver. That carve-out protects residents who put food out for a neighborhood feral colony from being held responsible for it the way an owner would be.

Money is where the Town's rules do reach cats directly. The animal control fee schedule in Section 205-9F, last amended August 10, 2021, sets a flat $60 charge for each cat disposed of as an unwanted animal, alongside $120 for each dog and a separate $20 pick-up fee. Section 205-9 also notes that any animal-control fee already governed by state statute, principally dog licensing and rabies control under RSA 466, is not repeated in the Town's own fee table. Hudson has no municipal cat-licensing requirement paralleling its dog licensing program, and no separate feral-colony trap-neuter-return ordinance appears anywhere in the code.