Roanoke, VA Animal Ordinances: Pet Limits (2026)

Sec. 6-27(a) bars keeping, harboring or owning more than four dogs on any parcel of real property zoned for residential use or used for residential purposes. Sec. 2, dogs kept on a farm (defined elsewhere in the chapter as three or more acres devoted to production for sale of plants, animals, or their products), and dogs kept at a licensed veterinary hospital or research laboratory that also complies with the city's License Tax Code and Zoning chapters. Sec. 6-116 sets a parallel but more flexible cat limit: no more than four cats on a residential parcel, but up to six cats are allowed if every one of the six has been spayed or neutered and the owner holds a veterinarian-issued certificate for each animal documenting the procedure.

Sec. 6-116(b) exempts cats under four months old, RA-zoned parcels, farms, and licensed veterinary hospitals, catteries, or research laboratories. Both sections are enforced the same way: keeping more than the permitted number on a covered parcel is itself the violation, regardless of whether neighbors complain, and both carry an identical criminal penalty. The RA District exemption matters in Roanoke specifically because that zoning classification, described in Sec. 2-310(a), exists to preserve agriculturally productive land at low density, so animal-count caps built for dense residential lots do not apply there.