Deerfield Beach, FL Animal Ordinances: Pet Limits (2026)

Sec. 10-4(b) prohibits keeping, maintaining, possessing, or harboring more than a total of six domesticated household pets on any one premises. The section grants a temporary carve-out for a litter of pups or a litter of kittens, or a portion of a litter, which may be kept without counting toward the six-pet cap for up to five months from the date of birth. Once that five-month window closes, the young animals count toward the household total like any other pet. The code treats exceeding the six-pet limit as more than a technical paperwork violation: it expressly states that keeping more than six constitutes prima facie evidence of creating and maintaining a nuisance, tying the numeric cap directly into the city's nuisance-abatement authority.

Because Sec. 10-4(a) defines domesticated household pets to include dogs, cats, parrots, parakeets, canaries, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, turtles, non-venomous snakes, and ferrets, the six-animal cap applies across that entire category in combination, not six of each species. Enforcement runs through the same section that limits fowl and wild animals, meaning code enforcement or animal control can act on a nuisance finding for an over-the-limit household.