Palm Springs, CA Animal Ordinances: Pet Store Rules (2026)
Key Facts
- Adopted
- Ordinance 1888, 2015
- Banned
- Retail pet store sale of dogs and cats
- Exempt
- On-site breeders, shelters, nonprofit rescues
- Adoption events
- Allowed if run by shelter or rescue partner
Summary
Palm Springs bans pet stores from selling dogs and cats outright: no retail store may display, sell, deliver, barter, auction or give away a dog or cat within the city. The ban exempts animals bred and reared on-site, publicly operated shelters, nonprofit rescues, and stores that host shelter or rescue animals for public adoption.
No pet store shall display, sell, deliver, offer for sale, barter, auction, give away, or otherwise transfer or dispose of dogs or cats in the City of Palm Springs. ... A person or establishment that sells, delivers, offers for sale, barters, auctions, gives away, or otherwise transfers or disposes of only animals that were bred and reared on the premises of the person or establishment; ... A private, charitable, nonprofit humane society or animal rescue organization; ... Nothing in this Section shall prevent a pet store or its owner, operator, or employees from providing space and appropriate care for animals owned by a publicly operated animal control agency, nonprofit humane society, or nonprofit animal rescue agency and maintained at the pet store for the purpose of adopting those animals to the public.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: rev 4923139; v14 updated 2026-06-24).
Full Breakdown
021, adopted by Ordinance 1888 in 2015, prohibits any 'pet store,' defined as a retail establishment open to the public engaged in offering animals for sale, from displaying, selling, delivering, offering for sale, bartering, auctioning, giving away, or otherwise transferring or disposing of dogs or cats anywhere in the City of Palm Springs. 'Retail sale' is defined broadly to include display, offer for sale, offer for adoption, barter, auction, give away, or other transfer. The ordinance carves out four exemptions: a person or establishment selling only animals bred and reared on its own premises; a publicly operated animal control facility or shelter; a private, charitable, nonprofit humane society or rescue organization; and a publicly operated animal control agency or nonprofit humane society or rescue that operates out of or in connection with a pet store.
Subsection (d) further clarifies that a pet store may still provide space and appropriate care for animals owned by a public animal control agency, nonprofit humane society, or nonprofit rescue and housed at the store for the purpose of adopting those animals to the public, so a shelter partnership adoption event at a retail pet store remains lawful even though direct commercial sale of dogs and cats is not.
Violations & Fines
Displaying, selling, or transferring a dog or cat through a retail pet store in violation of Section 10.24.021(b) is enforceable as a Title 10 code violation, subject to the city's standard citation and administrative penalty process; the exemptions for on-site breeders, shelters, and nonprofit rescues remain the only lawful path to a store-based dog or cat transaction.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a Palm Springs pet store sell puppies?
Can a store still host adoption events for shelter dogs?
Does the ban apply to a breeder selling their own animals?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Palm Springs
California rules heatmap·Compare Palm Springs to another location·View the California animal ordinances overview
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Pet Store Rules in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Riverside County handle pet store rules.