Stamford, CT Animal Ordinances: Microchipping (2026)

Section 111-7.B(1)(c) makes microchipping, or another reliable form of identification, a precondition for letting an owned cat run free outside its property, alongside being neutered or spayed under (a) and rabies-immunized under (b); an unchipped cat that roams doesn't meet the roaming-cat conditions and its owner is exposed to the § 111-7.F enforcement process. The microchip duty extends beyond pet cats already in a home. Section 111-8.E requires the Stamford Animal Control and Care Center (SACCC) to spay/neuter and microchip small mammals, defined in § 111-8.A to include rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas, hamsters, gerbils and ferrets, where appropriate before adopting them out.

Section 111-10.C goes further for the shelter's own animals generally: every animal leaving the shelter for adoption or transfer to an animal welfare agency for adoption or fostering must be neutered or spayed, vaccinated and microchipped, with dogs also vaccinated for distemper, Bordetella and parvovirus and cats for feline distemper. The SACCC can draw on the city's Dog Fund, generated from dog license fees, to pay for that neutering and microchipping work, or to sustain healthy but unadoptable animals, under § 111-10.D. The SACCC operates as part of the Stamford Police Department, under the police chief and the city's Director of Public Safety, Health and Welfare, per § 111-10.A.