Perth Amboy, NJ Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Chapter 178, Cats, was adopted 9-4-1990 as Ord. No. 508-90. Section 178-2 requires a license for any cat kept or harbored in the City of Perth Amboy, Middlesex County, issued by the City Clerk on application by the owner and payment of the prescribed fee. The chapter defines a cat of licensing age as one that has reached seven months or has a set of permanent teeth.

Under § 178-3, owners apply in January and annually thereafter for a license and metal registration tag for each cat, and must put a collar with the tag securely fastened on the cat. Section 178-4 sets the fee at $10 for each unneutered cat and $7 for each neutered cat, the same fee on renewal, with licenses expiring on the last day of January. A lost tag is replaced for $1, and proof of licensing must be produced on request of any health official, police officer or Animal Control Officer. Section 178-6 requires the application to show breed, sex, age, color and markings and proof of an effective antirabies inoculation.

Timelines are tight. A newly acquired cat, or a cat that reaches licensing age, must be licensed within ten days under § 178-5. A cat licensed in another state that stays more than ninety days needs a City license, and an unlicensed cat brought into the City needs one after more than ten days (§ 178-7).

Section 178-11 limits a property to five cats, except properties with a valid commercial kennel license; apartment complexes are exempt subject to their own requirements. Under § 178-12 an owner can ask the City Council for a waiver, with notice by regular and certified mail to every property owner within two hundred feet, at least ten days before a regular Council meeting.

Article II, the Trap, Neuter and Release Program (Ord. No. 1793-2015), covers care and roaming. Under § 178-16 the owner of a sexually intact domesticated cat cannot permit it to roam unsupervised, and no owner can abandon a cat. Under § 178-17 feral cat colonies are permitted; caregivers must register the colony with a sponsor, seek spay or neuter of at least ninety percent of the colony, and observe colony cats at least twice per week.