Austin, TX Animal Ordinances: Pet Groomer Rules (2026)

Under Sec. 25-2-4(B)(54), Austin's zoning code defines PET SERVICES use as the use of a site for the retail sale of small animals customarily kept as household pets, or for veterinary, grooming, or boarding services, provided the activity is conducted totally within a building. The classification expressly includes pet stores, small animal clinics, and pet grooming shops, and just as expressly excludes any use involving livestock or large animals, which fall instead under the Agricultural Uses classifications (Sec. 25-2-7) such as ANIMAL PRODUCTION, or under the commercial STABLE or CARRIAGE STABLE uses.

PET SERVICES sits in the same use-classification article as two related but distinct commercial uses: KENNELS (Sec. 25-2-4(B)(40)), defined as the boarding and care of dogs, cats, or similar small animals, including boarding kennels, pet motels, and dog training centers, and VETERINARY SERVICES (Sec. 25-2-4(B)(73)), defined as the provision of veterinary services and animal hospitals. A grooming operation that also boards or treats animals overnight may be classified under KENNELS or VETERINARY SERVICES rather than PET SERVICES depending on its actual scope of activity, since the Planning and Development Review Department director makes the classification call under Sec.

25-2-2 when a use doesn't cleanly fit one category. Because this is a commercial use classification rather than a residential one, a grooming business needs a site zoned for a commercial base district that lists PET SERVICES as a permitted or conditional use; the specific district-by-district permitted-use list is set in Sec. 25-2-491 (Permitted, Conditional, and Prohibited Uses), which sits outside the text reviewed for this entry.