Mendocino County, CA Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

020(A) of the County Code makes it an infraction for a cat's owner, harborer, or keeper to let the cat damage another person's property, or to bite, scratch, or claw a human being or another animal while off the owner's premises. 010(7): restaurants, grocery stores, meat markets, supermarkets, and fruit stores, with an exception for service animals under their handler's control. 072(C) as two or more feral cats living in close proximity to one another. Maintaining such a colony is an infraction unless it is registered with Animal Care Services or with a Community Animal Rescue Partner, an organization certified by the Animal Shelter Director, and the caretaker follows the guidelines the Director sets for colony management.

Mendocino County does not require individual cat licenses the way it requires dog licenses, and there is no leash mandate for cats comparable to the six-foot dog leash rule. 5 if the cat is not reclaimed within the first three days of the standard holding period.