Amherst, NY Animal Ordinances: Pet Limits (2026)

" Below that line, keeping dogs is ordinary residential accessory use requiring only the individual dog licenses issued by the Town Clerk under Article I of Chapter 99. At four or more, the lot is legally operating a kennel, and Part 6's use tables list "Kennels, accessory" as an allowed accessory use in at least two residential-district categories, cross-referenced to the siting standards in § 203-6-8-7. That section requires kennels or any outdoor dog runs to sit back a minimum 200 feet from the front lot line and 100 feet from the side and rear lot lines, and to be screened from adjacent properties and the public right-of-way with an opaque buffer, whether fencing, walls, berms or vegetation, at least six feet high; a planted screen must close to opaque within two years of planting.

Cats are treated differently: § 99-20I of the Animal chapter exempts registered "community cat caretakers" from "limitations on the number of cats owned, kept, held, or harbored," which presumes some cat-number limitation exists, but neither Chapter 99 nor the Zoning Code definitions reviewed here spell out what that number is. There is no cat counterpart to the KENNEL definition's four-dog line in the sections available.