Arcadia, CA Animal Ordinances: Pet Limits (2026)

Sections 4126 and 4142 of the Arcadia Municipal Code set a matching cap for dogs and cats. Each bars any person from keeping more than three animals over the age of four months in any place in the City within two hundred fifty feet of any dwelling in use or occupied by human beings, other than the dwelling occupied by the animals' owner. Puppies and kittens under four months are outside the count in the text of both sections. The distance test runs to a neighbor's occupied dwelling, so the owner's own house does not count against the limit.

Distance is also what triggers the kennel permit. Section 4126.2 prohibits keeping four or more dogs over four months old at any one place in the City, when the place sits more than two hundred fifty feet from any dwelling occupied by anyone other than the owner, unless the person first obtains a permit from the Council under Article VI of Chapter 2 of the Code to keep or maintain a kennel. Section 4142.2 sets the same rule for four or more cats. The Council can grant or refuse the permit in its discretion and, when it grants one, can prescribe the conditions it considers advisable or necessary to prevent the keeping from becoming a nuisance. Sections 4121.3 and 4141.2 define a kennel as any lot, building, structure, enclosure or premises where four or more dogs, or four or more cats, are kept or maintained for any purpose, including boarding, sale or hire.

Sections 4126.1 and 4142.1 add a separate permit for anyone who carries on the business of keeping dogs or cats for breeding, for medical treatment, or for care for hire. That permit also comes from the Council under Article VI of Chapter 2, and the Council holds the right to grant or refuse it.

Licensing sits alongside the caps. Section 4124.1 prohibits harboring an unlicensed dog over four months of age, and under Section 4124.1.1 a license runs twelve months from the date of issue, with fees set by City Council resolution. Under Section 4121.4, a person keeping or harboring a dog for fifteen or more consecutive days is deemed its owner.