Norwalk, CA Animal Ordinances: Mandatory Spay/Neuter (2026)

070 operates as a restriction on the Department of Animal Care and Control rather than on private pet owners. It bars the Executive Director from selling or giving away any female cat over six months that hasn't been spayed, or any male cat over six months that hasn't been altered. For a cat younger than six months, the Executive Director may still release it, but only if the cost of spaying or altering has first been deposited in trust for payment to a veterinarian or a spaying/altering clinic designated by the new owner; that deposit is refunded once the owner proves the animal was sterilized.

060, which lets the Executive Director run a low-cost spay and neuter clinic where members of the public can have their own dogs and cats fixed for a fee; anyone submitting an animal must sign a notarized consent form proving ownership and waiving City liability, and must retrieve the animal by a set return date or face a board-and-care fee, with failure to reclaim it within 15 days of that date deemed abandonment that lets the Executive Director sell or destroy it. Nothing in either section imposes a spay/neuter duty on an owner's own pet kept at home; the requirement only reaches animals that pass through the City's own adoption or clinic pipeline.