La Habra, CA Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

La Habra treats cats differently from dogs in two respects. First, the numeric household cap in Section 6.22.010 mirrors the dog rule: no address can keep more than four cats older than four months, and only one can be an unspayed female, unless the household operates a bona fide animal clinic, hospital, licensed pet shop, cat kennel, circus, carnival, traveling show, menagerie or cat exhibition at that address. Second, licensing works in reverse from dogs. Section 6.16.010 makes a dog license mandatory after thirty days of residence, but Section 6.16.012 makes licensing any other domestic or permitted animal, including a cat, entirely voluntary, available for a fee set by city council resolution and without the rabies-vaccination proof a dog must show.

La Habra also exempts domestic cats specifically from its blanket at-large prohibition in Section 6.22.500, which bans letting any animal stray or run loose in public streets, sidewalks, parks or school grounds, except domestic cats. That carve-out means a roaming pet cat is not itself a code violation the way a loose dog is, though a cat colony that becomes a public nuisance can still be reached through Section 6.22.550's animal-nuisance provision or the city's separate abatement procedures. Anyone who keeps a female cat for breeding, defined under Section 6.22.020 as raising more than one litter per year, must obtain a breeding permit from the animal control officer, with fees set by city council resolution, the same permit structure used for dogs.