Twin Falls County, ID Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Title 5, Chapter 8 of the county code, "Cat Control," consists of a single section, § 5-8-1, adopted by Ordinance 256 on September 28, 2020. It does not create a licensing program for cats and does not prohibit anything; instead it protects a specific trap-neuter-release practice. A person may take temporary possession of a stray, feral, or abandoned domesticated cat found in the county for the purpose of getting it spayed or neutered, provided four conditions are met: the cat must be caught in a humane manner, cared for humanely while in custody, spayed or neutered by a veterinarian licensed in Idaho, and released back into the general area where it was originally caught within an appropriate amount of time, with the vet deciding what timeframe is appropriate.

No other section of Title 5 or Title 6 (Motor Vehicles and Traffic) sets up cat licensing, registration, or an at-large prohibition specific to cats; the county's animal provisions otherwise focus on dogs and livestock. That makes § 5-8-1 the sole cat-specific rule for unincorporated Twin Falls County outside the cities' areas of impact, and it functions as legal cover for community caretakers running informal trap-neuter-release colonies rather than as a restriction on cat owners.