Fresno County, CA Animal Ordinances: Pet Limits (2026)

Fresno County Code Chapter 9.04 does not set a numeric limit on how many dogs or cats a household may keep purely as pets. The only quantity threshold in the chapter appears in Section 9.04.050, which requires every person owning or operating a kennel or place where four or more dogs are kept for breeding, boarding, training or other commercial purposes to obtain a kennel license covering all dogs kept there. Failing to procure that license is unlawful. Before the county issues a kennel license, the applicant must first obtain a permit from the local health officer, and the fee is set in the county's Master Schedule of Fees, Charges and Costs Recovery, due and delinquent on the same schedule as an individual dog license.

The section also imposes physical and operational standards once the four-dog commercial threshold is crossed: kennels must be constructed to prevent the dogs from running at large or leaving the premises, must be operated and constructed in a sanitary and proper manner so the kennel does not become a neighborhood nuisance, and remain subject to the local health officer's reasonable ongoing regulation. Chapter 9.05 layers a separate limit on top for breeding specifically: Section 9.05.040(K) caps a household at three breeding permits before it must instead obtain the Section 9.04.050 kennel license, so a resident who wants to breed more than three dogs or cats in one household needs the same commercial kennel authorization as a boarding or training operation.