Olympia, WA Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Chapter 6.04 of the Olympia Municipal Code treats cats differently from dogs in several places. OMC 6.04.040(A) makes it unlawful to own, keep, or have control of any dog or cat considered a pet animal in the City of Olympia without a license. Animal Services provides the identification tag on payment of the license fee. Each license is valid for one year from issuance under OMC 6.04.040(F) and cannot be transferred from one pet animal to another under OMC 6.04.040(G). Fees are set by Council through contract, or by resolution if no contract exists, and a 50% surcharge is added for services to jurisdictions that do not participate in JASCOM. A cat without an authorized and current license tag can be impounded under OMC 6.04.040(D).

Cats get relief on the tag itself: a dog owner must keep a collar or harness with the tag on the dog off the owner's property, but for cats only a microchip may substitute if a collar is considered a hazard.

Community cats sit outside the pet animal rules. OMC 6.04.030(F) defines a community cat as any free roaming cat that may be cared for by one or more residents, and ear-tipped community cats were sterilized and vaccinated against rabies at least one time. A community cat caregiver under OMC 6.04.030(G) provides food, water, shelter and veterinary care without being treated as the owner, custodian, harborer, possessor, or keeper.

A cat counts as at large only when it is on property where the owner or tenant objects to its presence and has humanely trapped or otherwise contained it. The nuisance pet animal definition also reaches a female cat in heat not confined within a structure, except for planned breeding. An animal found by the Director to be feral can be euthanized at any time after impoundment under OMC 6.04.100(K), without the holding period.