Lower Merion, PA Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Section 90-53 of the Code of the Township of Lower Merion, adopted in 1977 and last amended in 2008 by Ord. No. 3853, makes it unlawful for anyone owning, harboring, keeping or in charge of a dog or cat to allow the animal to run at large on the public streets of the Township or on another person's property. The same section separately bars letting a dog or cat soil, defile or defecate on private property without the owner's permission, or on any public property; the ordinance builds in a self-cleaning defense, so an owner who immediately removes the feces and disposes of it sanitarily is not in violation.

Guide dogs for the blind, dogs assisting other physically handicapped people, and animals used in police or fire work are exempt. Enforcement runs through the Township's Animal Warden, any Township officer, or any affected party, and § 90-53D lets a private citizen sue a violator directly after giving 30 days' written notice to the Director of Building and Planning and the alleged violator, so long as the Township is not already prosecuting the same conduct. A violation is not treated as negligence per se. Penalties are set out separately in § 90-54: a summary conviction carries a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $1,000 per offense, and each day a cited violation continues after notice counts as a new, separately punishable offense.

The chapter does not create a cat-licensing program, a rabies-tag requirement specific to cats, or a feral-colony registration scheme; its cat-specific reach is limited to the at-large and defecation prohibitions above, so a Lower Merion cat owner's principal legal exposure is keeping the animal off others' property and cleaning up after it.