Cathedral City, CA Animal Ordinances: Pet Groomer Rules (2026)

A dog groomer in Cathedral City has one named home in the zoning code: the MXC Mixed Use Commercial district in Chapter 9.31. Section 9.31.020 lists 'Veterinarian, dog groomer and pet boutique' as a single permitted use, so a grooming shop that fits the MXC district needs no conditional use permit for the use itself. The word groomer appears nowhere else in the Cathedral City Municipal Code, so a grooming business proposed outside MXC has to be matched against that district's own printed use list.

The MXC district exists, in the words of § 9.31.010, to provide retail and service commercial uses of high intensity, entertainment venues, shopping facilities, and professional and administrative offices. Its permitted list puts the groomer beside a beauty and nail salon and barber shop, a florist, a fitness center, a grocery store and a pharmacy. The conditional use list in § 9.31.030, which sends applicants to a permit under Chapter 9.72, covers bars and nightclubs, drive-through facilities, movie theaters and dry cleaners, and the groomer is not on it. Section 9.31.050 prohibits manufacturing, mini warehousing, motels, tattoo and body piercing establishments and wholesale tobacco stores, and adds that uses not specifically listed as permitted or conditionally permitted are expressly prohibited.

Site rules still apply to the building. In the part of MXC bounded by the North Cathedral Channel, East Palm Canyon Drive, Date Palm Drive and Monty Hall Drive, § 9.31.035 bars development on lots of less than 10,000 square feet. Building height in MXC runs from 20 feet minimum to 55 feet maximum (§ 9.31.070), and interior setbacks are none, or a minimum of 8 feet but not to exceed 15 feet (§ 9.31.060).

The business-license chapter names pet hospitals, pet shops, veterinarians and kennel services as needing clearance from the county department of health before a license issues (§ 3.28.040). Groomers are not named there.