Laredo, TX Animal Ordinances: Microchipping (2026)

Sec. 6-6 governs redemption of any animal impounded by the city's animal care services division. Before an owner can reclaim an impounded dog, cat, or other animal, they must pay the pound's redemption fee and satisfy a list of conditions; the first is proof of ownership and registration, and the code is explicit about what happens when there is no registration on file: if not registered the owner must have the pet registered with a microchip. Redemption is also available if the dog or cat was already spayed or neutered before impoundment, is under three months old, has a veterinarian's medical exception, is a service animal, or the owner already holds a valid intact animal permit, but the microchip fallback applies whenever none of those other paths cover the animal.

Microchipping ties directly into Laredo's ordinary registration system. Sec. 6-116 requires the registration record for every dog or cat, spayed/neutered or intact, to include the animal's microchip number along with the owner's name, address, and a description of the animal, and an intact dog or cat must specifically be registered through microchip. Sec. 00 administrative fee added if the health department implants the chip itself. The same microchip mandate reappears for the highest-risk animals: Sec. 6-83(a)(8) requires the owner of a dog declared dangerous to have it injected with a microchip implant and registered with a national registry for dogs, as one of the mandatory conditions of keeping it.