Roanoke, VA Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

City Code section 6-116 sets the residential cat cap: no more than four cats per parcel zoned or used for residential purposes, rising to six if each cat has been spayed or neutered and the owner keeps a veterinarian's certificate for every cat, listing the cat's description, the owner's name and the date of the procedure. 2). Section 6-117 separately requires every cat over four months old to be vaccinated against rabies under section 6-62, and owners must keep the vaccination certificate on hand to show an animal warden, police officer, or health department official on request.

Section 6-115 defines a public nuisance cat broadly: one repeatedly found at large, damaging others' property, caterwauling or howling to the point of disturbing neighbors, fouling the air, creating unsanitary conditions, or dangerous because of the number or type of cats kept. Under section 6-119, any cat violating the article, or any nuisance cat, may be seized by an animal warden or police officer and impounded at the city pound, following the same procedures the city uses for impounded dogs under section 6-28. Section 6-118 makes a cat's owner civilly liable for damage the cat causes to someone else's property.

Violating any part of Article VII, including the numeric limit or the vaccination rule, is a Class 4 misdemeanor under section 6-120, and the violation is separately declared a public nuisance that any injured person may seek to abate through a suit in equity.