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

130 governs animals running at large and folds in the city's mandatory sterilization rules. Subsection (F) provides that no person owning or possessing a cat over four months of age may allow it to be unconfined on any public street, road, alley, or other public or private place, including the exterior yards of the owner's own property, unless the cat is spayed or neutered. An animal control officer may seize any cat found violating this rule and require the owner to either sterilize it or produce a signed veterinary certificate of sterilization; if a person is cited or a cat impounded, the owner must be notified in writing and has seven calendar days to request a hearing on whether sterilization should be held in abeyance.

Subsection (G) extends the mandate to dogs: except for the exemptions listed at (G)(1) through (G)(3), covering trained law enforcement, assistance, search-and-rescue, herding, and hunting dogs, veterinarian-certified medical exceptions, and dogs boarded for professional training or resale, every dog over six months of age cited for being at large under this section must be spayed or neutered and microchipped at the owner's expense. The owner must supply written verification from the veterinarian who performed the surgery and microchipping to Petaluma animal services within seven days of the procedure.

The rule is triggered specifically by an at-large citation, so a confined, licensed dog or cat that never leaves its owner's control without permission is not swept into the mandatory sterilization requirement.