New Britain, CT Animal Ordinances: Mandatory Spay/Neuter (2026)

Sec. 6-8 lists a domesticated cat owner's core duties: subsection (a) requires every domesticated cat to be spayed or neutered by six months of age unless the owner has obtained and had approved a breeder's permit from City of New Britain Animal Control; subsections (b) through (e) add duties to provide adequate food, water and shelter, to exercise reasonable care against the cat creating a nuisance, to comply with the Sec. 6-9 roaming rules, and never to abandon the cat. Sec. 6-10 extends the spay/neuter duty to feral colonies: any keeper who regularly feeds a colony must have those cats spayed/neutered and vaccinated for rabies, though the city itself will not be a direct financial resource for that cost; a keeper who registers with the Animal Welfare Commission, including colony location and estimated cat count, becomes eligible for its funds and is deemed in compliance.

Trapped colony cats must be ear-tipped during spay/neuter surgery before being returned. Fines for sections including 6-8 and 6-10 were suspended for one year from the December 18, 2018 adoption date for public education, a grace period that expired in December 2019.