Tampa, FL Animal Ordinances: Pet Groomer Rules (2026)

Sec. 25, "Kennel, small," authorizes small kennels to keep only the animals listed in its use table, "in the city with valid, applicable local and state licensure," and requires that any animal fitting more than one animal-related definition in Chapter 27 comply with the most restrictive applicable regulation. " Aquatic animal tanks or ponds need a ten-foot setback from single-family uses, and animals held under the kennel classification must also adhere to Florida Game and Freshwater Fish Commission and other state and local regulations per the table's footnotes.

The Chapter 27 definitions section defines "Kennel, small" as "any lot or premises on which animals, more than six (6) months of age, are kept, groomed, bred, boarded, trained, and/or sold," classifying the use as a "general commercial use of land," while a "Kennel, large" is the same activity classified as an "intensive commercial use of land" under Sec. 26, which carries its own setback table and folds farm animals into the separate farm-animal standards of Sec. 28. The police department is expressly exempted from both kennel sections and may keep and maintain horses within city limits regardless of the setback or licensure rules that apply to everyone else.