Jackson, TN Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Jackson Municipal Code § 10-105.2 requires every person owning, keeping, or harboring a cat six months of age or older to have that cat vaccinated against rabies, citing Tennessee Code Annotated § 68-8-103 as the underlying vaccination mandate. Cats may be vaccinated as early as three months of age, but a cat still unvaccinated after turning six months old is treated as noncompliant with the section regardless of the owner's reason. All rabies vaccinations of cats covered by this chapter must be administered only by, or under the direct supervision of, a licensed veterinarian.

Evidence of vaccination must take the form of a certificate containing the owner's name and address, the vaccination date, the date the cat is due for revaccination, a description and the sex of the cat, the number of any vaccination tag issued, the vaccine's manufacturer and lot number, and the supervising veterinarian's name and signature. If the vaccine is administered at an animal control facility or shelter instead of a private veterinary clinic, the certificate must also carry the name and signature of the person who actually gave the vaccine along with the supervising veterinarian's signature, and the facility or shelter, not the owner, supplies the rabies certificate form and tag.

Jackson's collar-tag requirement in the same section is written for dogs specifically, so a vaccinated cat's proof of compliance rests on the certificate itself rather than a tag worn at all times. The vaccination duty applies citywide to every cat kept within the City of Jackson and sits alongside the separate mandatory spay/neuter fee structure in § 10-105, which also reaches cats over six months old.