Middleton, WI Animal Ordinances: Pet Limits (2026)

05(17) makes it unlawful for any person to harbor, shelter or possess more than five dogs or cats, in any combination, upon a single premises. The Common Council's stated purpose is explicit: it found that keeping large numbers of cats and dogs degrades public health and welfare through unreasonable noise and pet odors, and that the burden of proper care and cleaning for large numbers of animals creates real health risks, so a flat numeric cap is a more practical enforcement tool than chasing nuisance complaints one at a time.

"Premises" is defined to mean a single parcel of land, and for multi-family dwellings the definition applies separately to each dwelling unit, so an apartment building is not treated as one five-pet household. The ordinance lists eight exceptions, provided the animals otherwise comply with applicable zoning and licensing rules: dogs and cats under five months old; service animals as defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act; premises that already lawfully harbored five or more animals when the ordinance took effect, so long as every dog was properly licensed at that time and the animals are kept safely and sanitarily; fostering or rescue facilities approved by the Dane County Humane Society or a nationally recognized animal organization; pet shops; veterinary hospitals and clinics; kennels; and grooming parlors. The grandfathering exception protects existing multi-pet households but does not let them add animals beyond the number they held when the cap took effect.