Lacey, WA Animal Ordinances: Mandatory Spay/Neuter (2026)

Section 7.04.050(F) of the Lacey Municipal Code is the sterilization rule in the City of Lacey. It applies to a person who adopts a pet animal from the Animal Services shelter and fails to have the pet sterilized within the time period specified in the written agreement. The section prints no number of days; the deadline comes from the adoption agreement the adopter signs. Two exceptions are printed: a written veterinarian recommendation against sterilization, and verifiable placement within a governmental law enforcement agency. Without one of those, failure to sterilize an adopted pet animal is a civil infraction.

Section 7.04.030(DD) defines sterilized to mean the animal is surgically rendered incapable of reproduction by means of castration or an ovariohysterectomy. Section 7.04.080(F) sets the classification: failure to sterilize an adopted pet animal is a Class 4 civil infraction, and four or more violations of the section within an eighteen month period are deemed a misdemeanor. The eighteen months run from the date of the first violation to the violation being considered, and civil infractions are heard under Chapter 7.80 RCW.

Other sterilization-related text in chapter 7.04 is narrower still. The nuisance pet animal definition in section 7.04.030(V)(4) covers a female dog or cat in heat not confined within a structure to prevent access of male dogs or cats, except for planned breeding. Section 7.04.030(F) describes community cats with ears tipped as sterilized and vaccinated against rabies at least one time, and the kennel definition in section 7.04.030(Q) treats an adult dog or cat as one of either sex, altered or unaltered, that has reached the age of six months. The Animal Services Director, designees and officers named in section 7.04.020 enforce the chapter.