Santa Cruz, CA Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Santa Cruz County regulates cats through its breeding/spay-neuter rules rather than a separate cat-license scheme. Under County Code section 6.10.030, no person may own, harbor, or keep a dog or cat over the age of six months in the unincorporated county that has not been spayed or neutered, unless the person holds an unaltered-animal certification (Code 6.10.050 sets out the certification program and conditions). For feral or community cats, Code 6.10.040 makes it unlawful to intentionally provide food, water, or other sustenance to a feral cat colony unless the caretaker furnishes Animal Services with a signed statement agreeing to specified conditions - including registering as a caretaker, feeding regularly (including weekends and holidays), regularly trapping and spaying/neutering the cats, testing for feline leukemia and FIV, ear-tipping for identification, and rabies vaccination. On numbers, the County Animal Shelter's pet-limit summary allows up to two cats in single-family and multiple-residential zones (and counts cats within the four-animal total in rural and agricultural zones). The County Code does not impose a general cat-leash or cat-licensing requirement comparable to the dog license, so the principal cat-specific obligations are sterilization and the colony-feeding registration. These rules apply to the unincorporated county; cities have their own cat rules.