Lake County, FL Animal Ordinances: Pet Limits (2026)

There's no ordinance in Lake County Code Chapter 4 that limits how many dogs, cats, or other companion animals a household may keep. Instead, § 4-13 imposes a registration and reporting regime once you reach a threshold: rescue groups, breeders, hobby breeders, and any owner of eleven (11) or more dogs, cats, and companion animals must register annually with the County under § 4-13(a), paying a fee the Board of County Commissioners sets by resolution under § 4-13(b). Registrants must submit a disaster plan and authorize Animal Services or an Animal Enforcement Officer to inspect the premises where the animals are kept, per § 4-13(c). Only law enforcement personnel are exempt, under § 4-13(d).

Registration comes with ongoing reporting duties, not a one-time filing. Section 4-13(e) requires anyone housing stray or found animals on behalf of an Animal Rescue Organization to report those animals, and any others in their care, to Animal Services monthly, and to report any newly secured stray or abandoned animal, including cats, within 24 hours, with microchip information if available. Section 4-13(f) adds four more duties: hold stray animals five days (excluding legal holidays) so owners can reclaim them; keep two years of impoundment and disposition records, including names and addresses of who animals came from and went to, available to the Shelter for inspection; file a monthly report by the 15th listing every adopter, the animal's microchip and license tag numbers, and current shelter and foster counts; and provide every released dog or cat a rabies inoculation and sterilization before release.

A violation of § 4-13 carries a recommended fine of $250 under § 4-13(g), enforced through the Special Master process set out in § 4-8, the same civil-infraction track used for the rest of chapter 4.