Columbus, IN Animal Ordinances: Pet Store Rules (2026)

Section 6.08.280 of the Columbus Municipal Code, adopted by Ordinance 7-2021, bars any pet shop from selling, delivering, offering for sale, bartering, auctioning, giving away, or otherwise transferring or disposing of cats, rabbits or dogs. Chapter 6.04 defines a pet shop as any business enterprise except a kennel that buys and sells any species of animal, so the ban reaches a store's retail dog, cat and rabbit trade while leaving the sale of other species to the rest of Title 6.

The ordinance carves out one activity. A pet shop can collaborate with Animal Care Services or rescue groups to offer space for them to showcase adoptable dogs, rabbits and cats. Two conditions apply: the pet shop cannot hold any ownership interest in the animals offered for adoption, and it cannot receive a fee for providing the space. A rescue group, as Chapter 6.04 defines it, is an animal rescue group granted IRC 501 C (3) not-for-profit tax status whose purpose is to promote animal welfare through community awareness, responsible pet adoptions, and spaying and neutering of pets.

Pet shops count as commercial animal establishments under the same definitions chapter, and as keepers, which is why other Title 6 provisions treat them differently from households. Section 6.08.045(C), for example, prohibits selling chickens within the city unless the chicken is sold by a pet shop. Animals adopted from Animal Care Services itself follow Chapter 6.16: the fee for adopting a dog is one hundred dollars and for a cat eighty dollars, at the discretion of an Animal Care Services Manager, and every adopted dog or cat is spayed or neutered by a licensed veterinarian before adoption.