Ames, IA Animal Ordinances: Microchipping (2026)

Microchipping in the City of Ames is not a citywide pet mandate; it is one of several conditions the Animal Control Officer can impose under Sec. 3.206 once an animal has been designated a Dangerous Domestic Animal under Sec. 3.202(1). Sec. 3.206(b) specifically authorizes the officer to require that the animal be photographed by Animal Control and implanted, at the owner's expense, with a microchip containing owner identification information, and to require that the microchip data be registered with Animal Control. The same section lets the officer stack this with the other conditions listed in Sec.

3.206: spay or neuter by a set date under (a), a mandatory pet safety course at the owner's expense under (c), a conspicuously colored identification collar under (d), a posted warning sign visible from the road or 50 feet under (e), and current rabies vaccination under (f). Because these conditions attach to the individual designation rather than to pet ownership generally, an Ames resident whose dog or other animal has never been through the Sec. 3.202 dangerous-animal determination process is not subject to a municipal microchip requirement. Failure to comply with a Sec. 3.206 condition once imposed feeds back into the broader Chapter 3 enforcement and removal scheme in Sec. 3.207.