Wicomico County, MD Animal Ordinances: Cat Rules (2026)

Wicomico County's Animal Control chapter, Ch. 133, does not require cat owners to obtain a county license the way it does for dogs over six months old under § 133-4; instead, cats are addressed through rabies-vaccination, nuisance and community-cat provisions. Section 133-3 folds in Maryland's statewide rabies law, requiring every cat, along with every dog and ferret, at least four months old to be vaccinated against rabies by a licensed veterinarian, with the vaccination certificate serving as proof upon request from the Animal Control Authority or police.

Section 133-2 defines a 'community cat' as a free-roaming cat that has been sterilized and ear-tipped, and defines a 'trap-neuter-return program' as one approved in writing by the Animal Control Authority to humanely trap, sterilize, vaccinate, ear-tip and return such cats to where they were found. That approval matters for the county's abandonment law: § 133-21 otherwise bars leaving any animal on a road or public or private property with intent to abandon it, but it specifically exempts a community cat released back to a location under an approved TNR program, with the owner of the release site's consent.

A(5) makes it unlawful to allow a female dog or cat in heat outside a building or enclosure without control or supervision, one of six nuisance categories that can draw a citation on a sworn complaint filed with an Animal Control Officer within 30 days of the incident. C.