Springfield, IL Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)
Key Facts
- ID requirement
- Collar/harness with tag, any age (§ 91.05)
- Pet store cat sales
- Banned citywide (§ 91.27(a))
- Pet store fine
- $500 per animal sold in violation
- Rescue exception
- Adoption hosting allowed, no fee/ownership
- Primary enforcer
- Sangamon County Animal Control Division
Summary
Springfield does not license cats or cap how many you can own, but every cat must wear a collar or harness with an ID tag, and city pet stores are barred from selling cats or dogs at retail at all.
§ 91.05. - Identification. Every owner or keeper of a dog or cat, regardless of the animal's age, shall cause the animal to wear a collar or harness and shall affix thereto a metallic or other suitable tag inscribed with the name, address, and telephone number, if any, of the owner or keeper of the dog or cat. § 91.27. - Restrictions on the sale of animals. (a)No pet store shall sell, deliver, for for sale, barter, auction, give away, or otherwise transfer or dispose of cats or dogs. Nothing in this section shall prohibit pet stores from collaborating with animal care facilities or animal rescue organizations to offer space for such entities to showcase adoptable dogs or cats provided the pet store shall not have any ownership interest in the animals offered for adoption and shall not receive a fee for providing space for the adoption of any of these animals.(b)A pet store that violated this section shall be subject to a fine of $500, and each dog or cat offered for sale in violation of this section shall constitute a separate violation.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 82).
Full Breakdown
05 requires every owner or keeper of a dog or cat, regardless of the animal's age, to put a collar or harness on the animal with a metallic or other suitable tag bearing the owner's name, address, and phone number if they have one. Unlike dogs, cats carry no citywide rabies-inoculation mandate under chapter 91, so identification is the baseline duty for cat owners. 27, added by Ord. No. 413-10-19, separately bars any pet store in the city from selling, delivering for sale, bartering, auctioning, giving away, or otherwise transferring or disposing of cats or dogs at retail.
Pet stores may still host an animal care facility or animal rescue organization on-site to showcase adoptable cats and dogs, but only if the store takes no ownership interest in those animals and charges no fee for the space. 02. 24, euthanized to avoid unnecessary suffering if no tag allows the owner to be traced.
Violations & Fines
A pet store found selling cats or dogs in violation of § 91.27 faces a $500 fine, and the code treats each animal sold in violation as a separate offense, so a store selling several cats can be fined per animal. Section 91.05 identification enforcement runs through the Sangamon County Animal Control Division and Springfield PD.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to license my cat in Springfield, Illinois?
Can I buy a kitten from a Springfield pet store?
What's the fine for a pet store that sells cats illegally in Springfield?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Springfield
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