El Cajon, CA Animal Ordinances: Veterinary Clinic Zoning (2026)

150, governs where a veterinary practice can open in El Cajon. The table lists 'Veterinary and small animal hospital, indoors only' with a 'P' in every one of the city's five commercial zone columns: office-professional (O-P), neighborhood commercial (C-N), general commercial (C-G), regional commercial (C-R), and heavy commercial (C-M). Under the table's key, 'P' means 'permitted use,' the least restrictive designation in the table, contrasted with 'C' (conditional use permit), 'MC' (minor conditional use permit), 'MUP' (minor use permit), 'S' (site development plan permit), 'Z' (administrative zoning permit), and 'X' (not permitted).

130 covering parking, trash enclosures, lighting and landscaping. The 'indoors only' qualifier in the table is doing real work: any boarding, treatment or animal holding conducted outdoors falls outside this permitted classification. 020 defines a 'veterinary and small animal hospital' or 'pet clinic' as a place of business operated by a qualified veterinarian for the treatment of small domestic animals, where boarding, training and grooming are only incidental to that treatment; a facility whose primary business is boarding or grooming, rather than veterinary treatment, does not qualify for this by-right classification and would need a different, more restrictive use approval.