Alameda, CA Animal Ordinances: Mandatory Spay/Neuter (2026)

1(d) sets Alameda's spay/neuter rule squarely at the point of shelter adoption rather than as a citywide mandate on every existing pet. A person adopting an unspayed or unneutered dog or cat from the animal shelter must pay a cash deposit set by City Council resolution. If the adopted animal was over six months old at adoption, it must be spayed or neutered within sixty days; missing that deadline means the deposit is treated as unclaimed and forfeited rather than returned. Money from forfeited deposits does not go into the City's general fund for unrelated use: the code restricts it to a public education program on pet overpopulation, a program that spays or neuters dogs and cats, a follow-up program confirming that animals sold or given away by the shelter were sterilized, or other costs tied directly to running this program.

The requirement does not reach a resident redeeming their own animal from impound, only shelter adoptions of animals the City did not already own. The shelter may also enter cooperative agreements with humane societies, SPCA shelters and veterinarians to carry out the spay/neuter program. 1 gives owners of already-sterilized dogs and cats a financial incentive rather than a mandate: the annual license fee for a spayed or neutered dog or cat is fifty percent of the fee charged for an intact animal, on top of the fifty percent senior discount available to owners sixty-two and older.