Edmonds, WA Animal Ordinances: Pet Store Rules (2026)

134(B) is Edmonds' puppy-mill-style retail ban. It makes it unlawful for any person to sell or offer for sale a companion animal, defined in this section as any dog, cat or rabbit. The only lawful retail model left standing is adoption-based: a retail pet store may provide space and appropriate care for animals that are owned by a publicly operated animal control agency or a nonprofit animal welfare organization, so the public can adopt spayed or neutered dogs, cats or rabbits there. A store cannot buy animals from a breeder or broker and resell them; it can only host a shelter or rescue's adoption program on its premises.

134(A), which separately bans deliberately breeding a companion animal for profit, punishable by up to $1,000 per litter (curable by proof the litter and offspring were spayed or neutered and breeding has stopped). 00 per animal, per day the violation continues, which can accumulate quickly for a store holding multiple unlawfully offered animals. The ordinance builds in two narrow exceptions: accidental litters are exempt from the breeding ban if the owner proves the resulting animals were spayed or neutered, and adoption 'rehoming fees' charged when placing a companion animal into a safe home are exempt from the sale ban. 05.