Garden Grove, CA Animal Ordinances: Pet Store Rules (2026)

140, adopted by Ordinance 2875 in 2016, bars any pet store from displaying, selling, delivering, offering for sale, bartering, or auctioning a dog or cat unless it came from a public animal control facility or shelter, or a duly authorized nonprofit humane society or animal rescue organization. A narrow carve-out lets a store display and sell a cat donated by a local resident free of charge, but only if the store owner or operator notifies the City in writing of that donated-cat sale. Stores operating before the ordinance took effect and sourcing dogs or cats from now-prohibited suppliers, while otherwise complying with the code, got a one-year wind-down window from the effective date of Ordinance 2855 to phase out those sales; that grandfather period has long since expired.

The section borrows its definition of "pet store" directly from California Health and Safety Code Section 122350, so the ban tracks state law's definition of a retail seller rather than a private breeder or an individual selling a personal pet. 04, Animal Regulations, alongside the City's broader impoundment and shelter-redemption rules enforced by the Public Works Department's Animal Care Services Division and its Director.