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

Mendocino County's animal ordinance does not set a hard numeric limit on the number of dogs or cats a household may own outright. 088(A) of the County Code defines a 'noncommercial kennel' as any place where five or more dogs are kept by the owner for personal pleasure, herding, or farm-animal protection, and requires that the owner hold a valid noncommercial kennel license on file with the Department of Animal Care and Control. 020(A)(1) reinforces that licensing trigger: no noncommercial kennel license may be issued unless the applicant verifies that the five or more dogs on the property are not being sold or traded for commercial purposes, which would instead require a full commercial kennel license and a Treasurer-Tax Collector business license.

020(A)(7), every dog covered by a noncommercial kennel license must be spayed or neutered unless a licensed veterinarian certifies that the surgery would be unsafe for that animal. 020(D). The ordinance does not define a 'noncommercial kennel' by cat count, so no equivalent five-cat licensing trigger exists for cats; feline colonies are instead addressed separately under the county's feral cat colony registration rule.