Troup County, GA Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Sec. 14-1 defines 'nuisance' to include an abandoned or stray animal, a female dog or cat running at large when in heat, and an unlicensed and untagged dog or cat, among other conditions. Sec. 14-4(a) bars owning, keeping, or harboring a cat in unincorporated Troup County unless it has been vaccinated against rabies under state department of human resources and county health department rules, and subsection (b) requires the owner to keep a vaccination certificate or other written proof on hand. Subsection (c) requires a numbered rabies tag on the animal's collar, furnished or approved by the state, at all times the animal is off the owner's premises, though it exempts cats and dogs from wearing the tag while they remain on the owner's own property, so long as the owner still has written proof of current vaccination.

Sec. 14-8(1) separately makes it 'unlawful and deemed a public nuisance and separate violation' for an owner to fail to keep a female dog or cat from running at large or under restraint while in heat. Sec. 14-2 assigns enforcement of chapter 14 to the county animal control department, which cooperates with the county health department on rabies control and prosecutes violations in Magistrate Court. Violations of the article are punished under Sec. 14-12's reference to the Code's general penalty in section 1-19.