Dorchester County, SC Animal Ordinances: Mandatory Spay/Neuter (2026)

Adopted by Ord. No. 19-32 in December 2019, § 4-20 carves out an exception to the general at-large ban in § 4-7, which otherwise makes it unlawful for an owner to let a fertile cat six months or older run loose. Under § 4-20(a), a free-roaming cat is allowed in the county only if it is spayed or neutered, microchipped, vaccinated for rabies, and ear-tipped, the visible mark used to show a community cat has already been sterilized. All four conditions must be met together; a cat missing even one, most commonly the spay/neuter or microchip requirement, falls back under § 4-7's general fertile-cat at-large ban rather than the free-roaming exception.

Subsection (b) then makes clear the program is not a blanket pass: a person who owns, keeps, possesses or maintains a free-roaming cat 'shall be subject to the provisions of Section 4-9 Nuisance,' so a fully compliant, ear-tipped, chipped cat that damages a neighbor's property, repeatedly defecates on someone else's land, or otherwise crosses into nuisance territory under § 4-9 can still expose its owner to a citation, a confinement order from the animal control officer, or the fines set out in § 4-14, up to $500 or 30 days in jail per offense.

The section does not create a registration or permitting process of its own; it simply defines the conditions under which an otherwise-prohibited roaming cat becomes lawful.