Melbourne, FL Animal Ordinances: Pet Limits (2026)

Melbourne's Land Development Code (Appendix B, Article II, Definitions) does not print a specific numeric cap on dogs or cats at a single-family residence. Instead it regulates pet volume indirectly through the definition of "Kennel": a premises where five or more domesticated house pets over six months of age are harbored, whether for profit or personal use. The same definition separately captures "the keeping of more than one dog on vacant property or on property used for business or commercial purposes," a lower, two-dog trigger aimed at unoccupied lots and commercial sites rather than an occupied home.

Once a household reaches the five-pet threshold, the property is reclassified under the zoning code as a kennel use, which pulls it into the city's land-use tables. Table 1A (Table of Uses, Residential Districts) does not list "kennel" as a permitted, conditional, or accessory use in any residential category, and Table 1B (Table of Uses, Nonresidential Districts) marks Kennel "N" (not permitted) in the R-P, C-1A, C-1, and C-3 districts, allows it only conditionally in C-2, C-P, and C-E, and permits it outright only in the M-1 and M-2 industrial districts. Under the zoning code's default rule that all uses not specifically or provisionally permitted are prohibited, a residential lot keeping five or more dogs or cats has no zoning path forward where it sits.

Separately, Chapter 10's animal permit article requires a permit for non-domestic animals kept outside a residence, but Sec. 10-27(a) expressly excludes "domestic dogs and cats" from that permitting scheme, leaving the five-pet kennel definition, not the chapter 10 permit desk, as the operative ceiling on household dogs and cats.