Sedona, AZ Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)
Key Facts
- Cat licensing
- Not required; only dogs need a license
- Feeding a stray 4+ days
- Makes you its legal owner
- At-large notice penalty
- $25.00, due within 96 hours
- Impound fee
- Daily rate set by contracted shelter
- Enforcement
- Police or city enforcement officer
Summary
Sedona's animal-control chapter treats cats differently from dogs: SCC § 6.05.030 requires a license only for dogs, so cats never need a city tag. Cats still count as "animals at large" under § 6.05.020 and can be impounded under § 6.05.050. Feeding a stray cat for four straight days legally makes the feeder its owner, responsible for nuisance and restraint violations.
“Owner” means any person, partnership or corporation owning, keeping or harboring one or more animals or any person acting for the owner. An animal shall be deemed to be harbored if it is fed or sheltered for four consecutive days or more. ... “Animal at large” means any animal not under the restraint of a person capable of controlling the animal or off the premises of the owner, excluding bees. A vehicle shall be considered the premises of the owner. ... Animals at large and nuisance animals, with the exception of farm animals, shall be taken by the police or enforcement officer and impounded in an animal shelter and there be confined in a humane manner. ... Such notice shall impose upon the owner a penalty of $25.00, to be paid within 96 hours.
Official source re-checked September 8, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: current through Initiative Ordinance 2026-01, approved by voters at the July 21, 2026 election).
Full Breakdown
030 applies only to "any dog over three months of age," so cats never need a city tag, annual fee, or rabies-certificate filing the way dogs do. That does not mean cats go unregulated. 050 directs the police or the city's enforcement officer to impound animals at large or public-nuisance animals, cats among them, unless they are farm animals. A reclaimed cat's owner pays the impound fee set by the shelter under contract with the city for each day of confinement. 020 defines "owner" to include anyone who feeds or shelters an animal "for four consecutive days or more," so a resident who regularly feeds a stray or semi-feral cat becomes its legal owner and inherits responsibility for restraint, waste, and nuisance violations the cat causes.
There is no separate feral-colony or trap-neuter-return ordinance in the code; feral cats fall under the same at-large and nuisance framework as owned cats. 00 penalty payable within 96 hours. 020's definition of that role.
Violations & Fines
Officers may impound an at-large or nuisance cat under § 6.05.050 and hold it pending the daily fee charged by the city's contracted animal shelter, or issue a written notice of violation carrying a $25.00 penalty due within 96 hours. Because cats are not licensed, there is no license-renewal citation path, but the harboring definition still exposes a regular feeder of a stray cat to nuisance liability for damage, noise, or unsanitary conditions the animal causes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to license my cat in Sedona?
If I feed a stray cat regularly, am I legally responsible for it?
Can Sedona impound my cat if it's found roaming?
What happens if my cat becomes a neighborhood nuisance?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Sedona
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