Laurens County, SC Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Laurens County Code Sec. 4-4 requires a valid metal rabies tag, issued by a licensed veterinarian, to be attached to a collar or harness and worn by every dog and cat at all times when the animal is outside the owner's home. The county also encourages, though does not mandate, a separate identification tag showing the owner's name and address. Cats and dogs found without a current rabies tag may be picked up by a Sheriff's Office animal control deputy and taken to the Laurens County Animal Shelter for disposition as abandoned animals under Sec.

4-7. Separately, Sec. 4-6(a) makes every owner responsible for keeping a cat, like any pet, under reasonable control and restraint at all times, and Sec. 4-6(b)(1) makes it unlawful to let a cat run at large off the owner's own property. The chapter does not create a distinct cat license or a feral colony/trap-neuter-return program; the operative rules for cats are the rabies-tag mandate and the general reasonable-control standard that applies to every animal in the county. The Laurens County Sheriff's Office administers animal control, operates the shelter (transferred from Public Works in 2020), and its deputies may impound a cat found in violation.

Impounded animals are held at least three working days, or, if identifiable, at least two weeks after the owner is notified by phone or certified mail, before the shelter may dispose of them under Sec. 4-7(h). An owner reclaiming a cat must show proof of current rabies vaccination or have the shelter vaccinate it at the owner's expense, plus pay boarding, veterinary and impoundment fees the Sheriff sets.