Margate, FL Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Section 6-30 of the Margate Code names cats alongside dogs and ferrets. Anyone who keeps or harbors a cat over the age of four months in the city needs proof that a licensed veterinarian inoculated it against rabies within the preceding year. The section also ties licensing to the shot: no license is issued for a dog, cat or ferret over four months old unless the applicant presents proof of a rabies inoculation within the year before the application. Animals that a veterinarian certifies would be banned from the inoculation are exempt. The section states no license fee, and Chapter 6 contains no separate cat licensing section or feral cat colony provision.

Other Chapter 6 rules reach cats directly. Section 6-26 bars any animal from being outside a secure structure unless it is fenced in, tethered on the owner's property or controlled by a leash or similar device, so a free-roaming cat is an at-large animal. Section 6-89 makes it unlawful for a person keeping a dog or cat to fail to provide clean, sanitary, safe and humane conditions, sufficient food daily, ventilation, clean fresh water at all times, shelter, and veterinary care when the animal is sick or injured. An unspayed female cat in heat must be confined in a house, building or secure enclosure built so no other cat can reach her, except for intentional breeding.

Section 6-86(e) sets outdoor shelter standards: cats and dogs must be moved indoors or heated to keep the air above 45 degrees Fahrenheit when it turns colder, and cooled to 85 degrees or below when it turns hotter. Section 6-88 bars pet stores from selling or giving away dogs or cats in the city, with exemptions for hobby breeders, shelters, rescue groups and certain stores licensed before Ordinance No. 1500.603, and requires a certificate of source posted on or within three feet of each cage.