Bartholomew County, IN Animal Ordinances: Mandatory Spay/Neuter (2026)
Key Facts
- Breeder cap
- 10 unaltered females over 12 months
- General pet mandate
- none, alteration not required
- Feral cat TNR
- protected return exception, § 92.05(C)
- Kennel threshold
- 4 or more animals in one household
- Fine (paid within 5 days)
- $100
- Court conviction fine
- $100 to $500 per day
Summary
Bartholomew County does not require pet owners generally to spay or neuter their animals, but § 92.05(H) caps any breeder in unincorporated Bartholomew County at ten unaltered female dogs or cats over 12 months old kept for breeding. Section 92.01 repeats that limit in the BREEDER definition. Section 92.05(C) separately protects trap-neuter-return by letting county-sanctioned shelters return spayed or neutered feral cats to where they were trapped.
BREEDER. Any person, or other entity that breeds dogs or cats for purposes of sale of the offspring of the animal(s). In no event shall a breeder operate more than ten unaltered female dogs or cats that are more than 12 months old. ... nothing contained herein shall prohibit an animal shelter or any organization contracted with or sanctioned by the county to provide humane animal care from returning any feral cat that has been trapped and spayed or neutered to the location from which the cat had previously been removed. ... It shall be unlawful for a breeder or any other person or entity to keep more than ten unaltered female dogs or cats that are more than 12 months old, for purposes of breeding the dogs or cats for the purpose of selling the offspring.
Full Breakdown
01 defines BREEDER as any person or entity that breeds dogs or cats for sale of the offspring and states that a breeder may in no event operate more than ten unaltered female dogs or cats over 12 months old. 05(H) repeats and enforces that ceiling, making it unlawful for a breeder or anyone else to keep more than ten unaltered female dogs or cats older than 12 months for the purpose of breeding them to sell the offspring; keeping the eleventh unaltered breeding female is itself the violation, so operators who want to exceed that number must alter the extra animals.
The chapter does not impose a blanket spay-or-neuter mandate on ordinary pet owners in unincorporated Bartholomew County, so a single-household pet can remain intact without a permit. 05(C) addresses the other side of alteration: it is unlawful to abandon a dog, cat or other animal in the county, but the same subsection carves out an exception so an animal shelter or any organization contracted with or sanctioned by the county can trap a feral cat, have it spayed or neutered, and return it to the location where it was trapped, protecting community trap-neuter-return colonies from the abandonment charge. 02.
Violations & Fines
Exceeding the ten-unaltered-female breeding cap or unlawfully abandoning an animal draws the $100 fine set for the relevant category in § 92.99(A) if paid within five days at the County Treasurer's office. Unpaid citations move to County Court, where a conviction is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $100 to $500, and each day the breeder holds the animals over the cap is a separate offense under § 92.99(C).
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Bartholomew County require me to spay or neuter my pet?
How many unaltered breeding animals can a breeder keep?
Can I trap and release a feral cat after it's fixed?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Bartholomew County
Compare Bartholomew County to another location·View the Indiana animal ordinances overview
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