Pearland, TX Animal Ordinances: Pet Limits (2026)

Sec. 6-4(a) makes it unlawful for any person to keep, harbor, possess, or maintain, or allow to be kept, harbored, possessed, or maintained, more than five ferrets, dogs, or cats or any combination of those totaling more than five, over four months old, on premises owned, occupied, or controlled by that person within the city. Subsection (b) limits a dwelling unit to one litter from animals permitted under the section at any given time, so a household at the cap cannot also be raising a second litter simultaneously.

Subsection (c) lists categories exempt from the numeric limit: veterinary hospitals and animal hospitals or services; pet care facilities, farms, agricultural animal husbandry operations, cattle feedlots (CAFOs), livestock sales operations, or animal kennels as the Unified Development Code defines them; traveling circuses; animal shelters or pet care facility/animal kennel operations; and pet shops selling small animals, birds, or fish as the UDC defines them. The section was adopted as part of the wholesale Article I rewrite under Ordinance No. 528-11 on November 10, 2025, and the four-month age threshold ties the cap to animals past typical weaning age rather than counting newborn litters against the limit while they remain with their mother.