Johnston County, NC Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Chapter 4 defines 'animal' in § 4-3 as any live, vertebrate creature, wild or domestic, other than a human being, so every provision written for 'animal' owners, including the at-large ban in § 4-9, reaches cats by its own terms even where a section does not say 'cat' explicitly. Where the chapter does name cats specifically, § 4-6 requires every dog, cat or ferret owner to comply with state rabies-control law and to keep a suitable collar or harness with a current metal vaccination tag on the animal at all times; using or displaying another animal's tag is a separate violation. Section 4-8 adds that the collar or harness with attached tag must be worn at all times, and that chains, wire or cords are not acceptable collar materials. Under § 4-7, a cat that bites a person or shows rabies symptoms must be confined and reported immediately, and an unvaccinated biting cat is quarantined at the shelter or a veterinary hospital at the owner's expense for ten days.

Johnston County does not operate a municipal cat license, a registration tag distinct from the rabies tag, or a recognized feral or community-cat colony program in its code; a cat picked up as a stray is handled the same as a stray dog under §§ 4-16 and 4-17, including a seventy-two-hour minimum hold before adoption, sale or humane destruction. Violations of the collar, tag or at-large provisions carry the same escalating civil penalty as dog violations under § 4-5.