Summit County, OH Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Summit County Code of Ordinances Sec. 03 puts one specific duty on cat owners: while a female cat is in heat, the owner must keep her securely confined inside a building or on enclosed land unless she is on a leash and accompanied by the owner off the property. Sec. 03(b) makes this a strict-liability offense, so a lack of intent or knowledge is not a defense. Beyond that heat-specific rule, cats fall under the chapter's general at-large prohibition: Sec. 02(a) bars the owner of "any animal, other than a dog," from permitting it to run at large on public property, unenclosed land, or another person's premises, and requires the owner to keep it confined on the owner's premises or under a person's reasonable control.

Sec. 04(a) adds a nuisance standard that reaches cats too, prohibiting keeping any animal that creates offensive odors or unsanitary conditions, makes unreasonably loud and disturbing noise, molests people in the public right-of-way, scatters trash from receptacles, or damages another's property. Sec. 01(m) defines "feral" to include an ex-domestic cat that has reverted to being fully wild or was born to strays, but the chapter attaches no separate feral-colony program or licensing scheme to that definition. The dog tag and registration system in Sec. 52 is written for dogs only; Chapter 505 contains no comparable license or tag requirement for cats.