Yuba City, CA Animal Ordinances: Pet Limits (2026)

Yuba City does not set its household pet cap out as a single 'four dogs maximum' rule; it reaches that number by combining two separate Code sections. 8031 defines a 'kennel' as any lot, building, structure, enclosure, or premises where five or more dogs aged ten weeks or older are kept, without regard to whether the dogs are owned commercially or simply as pets. 5001(a), the standards section governing accessory uses on residential lots, then states flatly in subsection (3) that kennels are not permitted in residential districts.

Read together, once a residential property in Yuba City is home to five or more dogs past the ten-week mark, that property meets the Code's own definition of a kennel and becomes a use the R-1, R-2, and other residential zone districts do not allow at all, permit or no permit; the fix is to reduce the dog count, not to apply for approval. Puppies under ten weeks do not count toward that threshold, so a litter born on the property does not immediately convert a household into a kennel.

The same subsection also caps small animals differently: on lots of half an acre or less, chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs, and similar small animals are capped at a combined 12, roosters and hoofed animals (other than two pet potbellied pigs) are barred outright, and any animal housed in a pen on a larger lot needs a use permit plus 35-foot and 40-foot setbacks from lot lines and residences. Cats are not defined or separately capped anywhere in this section, so the numeric limit is specific to dogs.