Monroe Township (Middlesex County), NJ Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Chapter 33 of the Monroe Township Code treats cats and dogs together for licensing. Section 33-1 defines a cat as any member of the domestic feline species, male, female or altered, and license age as seven months or a set of permanent teeth. Under § 33-3, any person who owns, keeps or harbors a cat of license age must procure a license and official metal registration tag from the Township Clerk on or before January 31 each year. A cat acquired during the year and kept in the Township for more than 10 days needs a license, as does a cat attaining license age during the year, and a cat licensed in another state and kept in the Township for more than 90 days.

The application under § 33-4 goes to the Township Clerk with a description of the cat, the owner's name, address and telephone number, and proof of rabies vaccination extending through at least 10 months of the 12 month licensing period. A cat never previously licensed by the Township that has been spayed or neutered needs proof of that procedure. Chapter 39 prices cat licensing at $10, with a $3 line for non-spayed or non-neutered cats, a $10 late fee effective April 1st and a $10 fee per year for prior years unlicensed. Section 33-6 bars anyone from owning a cat, including farm cats, unless it has been vaccinated against rabies, and § 33-8 lets the Director of Health and Welfare exempt a cat on a veterinarian's certificate.

Other cat rules sit in the same chapter. Section 33-15.1 B makes it unlawful to chain or tether unaltered cats in any manner at any time. Section 33-15.2 bars confining a cat in a parked or standing vehicle for 15 or more minutes when the temperature is below 40° Fahrenheit or above 85° Fahrenheit. Under § 33-16, the Animal Control Officer and Police Officers impound any cat off its owner's premises without a current registration tag. Section 33-19 allows a quarantine of at least 10 days for a cat that bites a human being.