Dothan, AL Animal Ordinances: Mandatory Spay/Neuter (2026)

City Code § 10-25(b) sets the adoption fee assessed when an animal is placed from the city shelter: $85.00 for dogs and $55.00 for cats. That fee covers the cost of having the animal spayed or neutered, microchipped, given a parvo vaccine or feline distemper vaccine, and heartworm tested, and the ordinance is explicit that no animal shall be released for adoption as a pet until those procedures are completed and the fee paid in advance. Subsection (c) reinforces that no animal may be redeemed or adopted without complying with the section.

But § 10-25(d) draws a clear boundary around that mandate: animals transported through rescues are not required to be spayed or neutered, meaning the requirement is tied specifically to the city shelter's own adoption pipeline rather than a citywide mandate reaching every pet owner or every animal that changes hands in Dothan. Chapter 10 contains no separate provision requiring owners generally to sterilize dogs or cats they already own, and no breeding-permit or intact-animal-license scheme appears elsewhere in the chapter. The adoption fee and its spay/neuter condition are administered by the animal shelter identified in § 10-8, operating under the Dothan Police Department's animal control division.