Horry County, SC Animal Ordinances: Pet Store Rules (2026)

Section 4-12, adopted by Ord. No. 69-15 in 2015 and amended by Ord. No. 86-2021, targets puppy-mill retailing directly: subsection (j)(1) makes it unlawful for a pet store, defined as a retail business "primarily engaged in the sale, exchange, barter, or offer for sale of dogs and/or cats, and/or pet supplies, and/or pet food to the general public at retail," to display, sell, deliver, or otherwise dispose of a dog or cat anywhere in unincorporated Horry County. The only carve-out, in (j)(2), lets a pet store host an animal shelter or a bona fide animal rescue organization, one holding 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(6) tax-exempt status and not itself breeding animals, so the public can adopt dogs or cats for a nominal fee, provided the store takes no ownership interest in the animals and collects no fee for space or adoptions.

The same section separately regulates breeders and breeding operations: any operation offering twenty-five or more dogs or cats for sale in a 365-day period must submit to county animal-control inspections at least once a year, or twice a year at a sale location, and must provide written proof of vaccination and rabies inoculation for every animal sold. Breeders convicted of cruelty are barred from selling animals in the county, and no animal under eight weeks old may be sold except to a rescue, shelter, or Humane Society. Violating any part of Section 4-12, including the retail-sale ban, can trigger revocation of the offender's county business license on top of the criminal penalties under Sec. 4-10 and Sec. 1-8.