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

Section 8.04.040(b) states plainly that "All cats shall be vaccinated against rabies," and that "Any person in possession, control or ownership/guardianship of any cat shall have that cat vaccinated against rabies." That duty attaches to anyone who possesses or controls a cat, not just a titled owner, reaching colony caretakers as well as single-pet households. Subsection (c) puts a matching duty on veterinarians: "Any veterinarian operating either at an established place of business or at a mobile clinic shall provide a copy of a rabies vaccination certificate for any cat or dog vaccinated by him/her to the animal services provider within thirty days of vaccination," which lets the Marin Humane Society, the county's designated animal services agency under Section 8.04.110, track compliance without a separate cat licensing system.

That absence of a license is deliberate: Section 8.04.030's licensing requirement is written only for dogs "over the age of four months," and the fee schedule in Section 8.04.060 likewise applies only to dog licenses, so a cat owner in unincorporated Marin never pays an annual county cat license fee the way a dog owner does. The vaccination requirement still has teeth at the shelter door: Section 8.04.130(c) provides that "All cats four months old and older shall be released to their owner/guardians with proof of a current rabies vaccination," so an impounded, unvaccinated cat cannot go home until that proof is produced.

The code does not create a separate at-large or feral-colony permitting scheme for cats; the general nuisance provisions of Sections 8.04.179 and 8.04.180 apply to cats along with other animals, but cats are not subject to the dog-specific running-at-large prohibition in Section 8.04.160.