Laredo, TX Animal Ordinances: Pet Store Rules (2026)

Sec. 6-46 of the Laredo Code of Ordinances regulates, rather than bans, commercial pet sales. Any pet shop, defined at Sec. 6-1 as a business where dogs, cats, fish, birds, reptiles or rodents are kept for sale or commercial barter, must first obtain a pet shop permit from the animal care services department director, renewable annually after inspection and a compliance review, with a new application required whenever the store changes location or ownership. Display enclosures must prevent direct public contact with animals unless the enclosure has been inspected, handling is supervised by store staff, contact is limited to a designated area, and hand-washing facilities are provided before and after handling.

Dogs and cats must be exercised outside their primary enclosure at least twice every twenty-four hours unless the enclosure is large enough for the animal to exercise on its own, and every animal must be able to stand, stretch and turn without touching the enclosure's sides or top. Stores must immunize cats and dogs offered for sale against standard diseases, including canine distemper and parvovirus for dogs and feline rhinotracheitis and panleukopenia for cats, and may not offer a puppy or kitten under eight weeks old for sale, trade or giveaway, except animals surrendered to the department or a registered nonprofit shelter or rescue.

Sec. 6-46(j) separately bars any pet shop owner, operator, manager or employee from selling, trading, bartering or acting as a dealer in a prohibited animal as defined in Sec. 6-1, a list that includes non-human primates, wolves, big cats, skunks and venomous reptiles. Purchasers of a dog or cat must receive a written statement disclosing the sale date, permit number, vaccination and parasite-treatment dates and a health guarantee, and the shop must forward each buyer's name, address and phone number to the department within five days of the sale.