Memphis, TN Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Section 8-3-2(B) makes it unlawful for anyone to own, harbor, or keep a cat three months old or older within the city unless the owner holds a current rabies vaccination certificate for that animal; the requirement doesn't apply to nonresident cats passing through or staying fewer than 30 days. Section 8-1-2 defines a 'community cat' as one that 'lives outdoors, is unowned/semi-owned, and free-roaming typically in a colony,' noting that friendliness or wariness alone doesn't decide the label, an ear-tip is the marker that the cat has already been sterilized through the program.

Under Section 8-5-10's impoundment scheme, a non-community cat picked up while running at large, abandoned, or neglected can be held at the city shelter; if it carries a tag or microchip, the owner has at least 72 hours to redeem it by paying the reclaim fee on the current fee schedule. If no identification exists at all, the cat is instead deemed a community cat, skips the 72-hour hold, and, so long as it doesn't need medical care, is sterilized, ear-tipped, and released back at the location it was trapped rather than held for adoption.

Kittens under 12 weeks with no ownership identification bypass the hold too and go straight to adoption. Repeat offenses escalate: an owned cat picked up a second time within two years, or a third time within three years, costs progressively higher reclaim fees, and a third pickup also triggers a mandatory neglect summons under Section 8-3-1.