Valencia County, NM Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

067, CRUELTY TO ANIMALS AND ABANDONMENT, otherwise bans neglecting an animal's food, water, shade or shelter, carrying an animal cruelly in a vehicle, keeping it in unsanitary conditions, and abandoning or abusing it, with abandonment and abuse carrying a fine of $200 to $500 and impoundment of the animal under division (B). Division (H) then carves feral cats out of that abandonment exposure, stating that abandonment does not apply to the trap, neuter and return (TNR) of feral cats, and that a person or organization managing unowned cats through TNR is not deemed the owner, harborer, keeper, holder, or possessor of those cats.

065 applies to any cat found loose. Without the division (H) exemption, a volunteer who traps, sterilizes, and releases a colony of unowned cats back to where they were found could otherwise be treated as their harborer or keeper, exposed to licensing, microchipping, and at-large enforcement for animals that are, by definition, not being kept as pets. The exemption applies specifically to trap-neuter-return work; it does not exempt an owned cat's owner from the chapter's separate licensing, microchipping, rabies vaccination, or restraint requirements.