Horry County, SC Animal Ordinances: Microchipping (2026)

Horry County Code § 4-8 states plainly that no license is required for dogs, cats, or other small domestic animals in the unincorporated county, a deliberate policy choice distinguishing Horry from license-based jurisdictions. Instead of a license, the ordinance requires owners to provide "a means of identification for these animals, either through a collar tag, microchip, or other viable means." The statute does not specify a chip brand, registration database, or renewal fee, leaving owners latitude in how they comply, but it draws one explicit exception: anyone who merely feeds, waters, shelters or cares for a community cat is not considered that cat's owner for purposes of this section and owes no identification duty for it. That carve-out matters in Horry, where trap-neuter-return colonies are common in unincorporated pockets like Socastee and Carolina Forest.

The Horry County Police Department enforces Chapter 4 under Sec. 4-9, and Sec. 4-10 sets the penalty structure: any person convicted of violating a Chapter 4 provision is subject to punishment under Sec. 1-8, the county's general penalty section, which caps a misdemeanor-level violation at a $500 fine, thirty days imprisonment, or up to thirty days of public service in lieu of either, at the court's discretion. Sec. 4-10 also gives a magistrate authority, after a hearing with at least ten days' notice to the owner and a right to counsel, to order a vicious animal humanely destroyed. Because Chapter 4 imposes no license fee or registration renewal, the identification mandate functions mainly as a lost-pet and rabies-traceability tool, and shelter staff routinely scan for a microchip before treating a found animal as unclaimed.