Jacksonville Ordinance Code Chapter 462 limits standard residential households to no more than four dogs over four months old without a kennel license, regardless of lot size. Cats are limited under nuisance and hoarding standards rather than a fixed numerical cap. Service animals are excluded.
Chapter 462 of the Jacksonville Ord. Code allows a maximum of four dogs over four months in any single-family or multi-family unit; properties with five or more require a kennel license, conditional zoning approval under Ord. Code Ch. 656, and compliant kennel housing meeting setback and noise standards. Cats are not numerically capped but a household keeping cats must avoid sanitary nuisance, odor, and noise complaints; large cat households can be cited as hoarding under Chapter 462 and FL §828.12. Registered foster volunteers with JACPS or partner rescues may temporarily exceed the four-dog cap with a foster permit. Service animals are not counted.
Exceeding the four-dog limit without a kennel license brings civil fines starting at $200 per dog, removal orders, mandatory rehoming or surrender, and potential code-enforcement liens; persistent violators face injunction and zoning enforcement.
Jacksonville, FL
Jacksonville Ordinance Code Chapter 462 plus Florida Statute §828.12 treat animal hoarding as cruelty when overcrowding causes suffering, malnutrition, or un...
Jacksonville, FL
Jacksonville Ordinance Code Chapter 462 requires every cat over four months old to be vaccinated against rabies and to wear a current rabies tag. Cats are no...
Jacksonville, FL
Jacksonville does not impose blanket mandatory spay-neuter on owned pets. Chapter 462 requires sterilization only for animals adopted from JACPS or impounded...
See how Jacksonville's pet limits rules stack up against other locations.
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