Barrow County, GA Animal Ordinances: Mandatory Spay/Neuter (2026)

Sec. 14-40, "Nuisance animals," opens by making it unlawful for any person to keep an animal in a manner that constitutes a public nuisance, then lists nine conditions that qualify. Item (9) targets cats specifically: any feline "allowed to roam off of its owner's property unless such feline is spayed or neutered" is a public nuisance animal. This reverses the leash-law exemption Barrow gives cats elsewhere in the chapter: Sec. 14-38 and Sec. 14-39 exempt felines from the at-large and restraint duties that bind dogs, but only an altered cat can take advantage of that freedom without also becoming a nuisance violation.

The county's other spay/neuter references reinforce this: Sec. 14-93(d) requires anyone adopting a fertile dog, cat, or ferret from the shelter to have it spayed or neutered within 45 days of adoption or by six months of age, and the community cat program in Sec. 14-31 sterilizes every stray or feral cat it impounds before releasing it back to where it was captured. Enforcement of Sec. 14-40 runs through the animal control unit's officers under Sec. 14-33, who may cite the owner to appear before Barrow County Magistrate Court, and the same section's noise-complaint procedure shows the chapter also relies on witness complaints to trigger nuisance enforcement generally.