Springfield, OR Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Springfield Municipal Code Sections 5.400 through 5.476 govern dogs and other animals, and Section 5.418 makes it unlawful for a keeper of a dog, or of farm animals such as poultry, rabbits, horses, cows, llamas, sheep or goats, to let those animals run at large on another person's premises, a public sidewalk or a street. Subsection 5.418(2) carves out a specific exception: 'Except for bees and cats,' that at-large prohibition does not apply. Section 5.402's definitions confirm the pattern; the 'Farm Animal' definition never lists cats at all, and the 'Exotic Animals' definition separately excludes the species Felis catus, the domestic cat, from every category of prohibited exotic cat such as lions, tigers, leopards, cheetahs and ocelots.

Dog keepers must obtain an annual license under Section 5.426, present a rabies vaccination certificate, and attach a tag to a collar; nothing in Sections 5.400 to 5.476 imposes an equivalent license, tag or leash requirement on cat keepers. A cat owner in Springfield therefore faces none of the at-large citations, license fees or impoundment risk that Section 5.418 and Section 5.426 create for dog and farm-animal keepers. Cats remain subject to the city's general cruelty and poisoning protections in Sections 5.460 and 5.462, but no separate cat-specific licensing, leash or colony ordinance exists in the code.