Lake County, CA Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

1 of the Lake County Code makes it unlawful to intentionally provide care to a feral cat colony in the unincorporated area without first obtaining a cat colony permit, designated as either "free roaming" or "confined," from the Director of Animal Control. Getting the permit requires the caregiver to agree to feed and water the colony daily, trap every cat over eight weeks old for spaying or neutering, rabies vaccination, and ear clipping, the universal mark of a managed colony cat, and test cats that need it for FIV and FeLV, humanely euthanizing or separately confining any cat that tests positive.

2 sets out what the permit itself must contain: the free-roaming-or-confined designation, the colony's address or location, written authorization from the property owner to keep a colony there, the caregiver's name, address, and phone number, the approximate number of cats in the colony, and the permit's issuance and expiration dates. Unlike dogs, individual pet cats are not required to carry a county license under Chapter 4; the licensing scheme in Section 4-6 applies to dogs and to commercial kennels and pet shops, not to cat ownership generally.

The colony permit requirement applies specifically to caregivers feeding or managing groups of feral or community cats, not to owners of a single indoor or outdoor house cat.