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

Cats in the unincorporated areas are handled by Mendocino County Animal Care Services, and the County does not impose a cat-licensing scheme comparable to dog licensing (no countywide mandatory cat license requirement was found). For feral and free-roaming cats, the County follows a trap-neuter-return style approach: it states it is not required by law to take in free-roaming feral cats, and that the objective for free-roaming feral cats is to get them spayed or neutered and released back to where they came from, or placed into the Barn Cat Program. Effective July 1, 2020, Animal Care Services implemented the practice of spaying/neutering and returning feral cats to the field, and not long-term housing feral cats in the animal shelter. The County's clinic services include low-cost spay/neuter, rabies vaccination clinics and microchipping for community and shelter animals. Note also that the County adopted a mandatory-microchipping ordinance for impounded animals (Mendocino County Code §10.24.110), adopted by the Board of Supervisors on December 4, 2018 and implemented January 18, 2019, which applies to impounded animals generally. Owned cats are still subject to general animal-welfare and nuisance law, and any cat is protected from cruelty under California Penal Code §597. Owners of pet cats are encouraged to spay/neuter and microchip; rabies vaccination clinics are available through the County.