Nicholasville, KY Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Sec. 5-6 of the Nicholasville code, titled Dogs and Cats Constituting Annoyance, is the Chapter 5 section that regulates cats by name. It applies to any person who houses and keeps under his control any dog or cat as a pet or for any other purpose. Acts of such general annoyance consist of loud and continual barking, whining and the general emission of continuous noises that surrounding neighbors can hear. The listed acts describe sound, so the standard turns on noise reaching neighbors.

What the code prints for cats is narrow. Articles I and II of Chapter 5 print no cat license, tag or registration requirement. The restraint rule in Sec. 5-27 speaks of dogs: dogs kept in the city must stay within the confines of their residence property unless the owner controls them with a leash or other similar device. The running-at-large rule in Sec. 5-26 names livestock and a proud bitch, not cats. A cat owner is therefore measured against the annoyance standard rather than a leash or at-large offense in those articles.

Other rules still reach a cat owner. Sec. 5-7 requires the custodian of every animal to remove any excreta deposited within the corporate city limits on public walks, streets, recreation areas or private property belonging to another, declares unremoved excreta a public nuisance, and sets a fine of not more than $50 for each violation. Sec. 12-10(b)(11) separately lists meowing among the sounds from an animal kept or harbored in the city that annoy or disturb a reasonable person of normal sensitivities, and Sec. 12-10(c) sets a fine of not less than $25 nor more than $500 or up to six months in the Jessamine County Detention Center.