Nashville's Animal Ordinances: The Rules That Matter

Every city handles animal ordinances a little differently. In Nashville, Tennessee, there are 13 distinct rules that residents and property owners should be aware of. Some are stricter than what neighboring cities enforce, and others are more relaxed. Here is what you need to know.

Bird Protection

Metro Nashville makes it unlawful to kill or attempt to kill any bird, game or nongame, except English sparrows, or squirrels in public parks and cemeteries under Metropolitan Code of Laws § 8.20.170.

Key details: Covered locations: Public parks and all cemeteries. Exception: English sparrows only. Also protected: Squirrels and any other animal. Max fine: $50 per violation, per day. Geographic reach: Countywide, not just urban services district.

Killing a protected bird or squirrel in a Metro park or cemetery is a misdemeanor code violation carrying up to a $50 fine, with each day of continuing violation a separate offense.

This is one of the stricter rules in Nashville's municipal code. If you are unsure whether your situation complies, it is worth checking with the city before proceeding.

Wildlife Rescue Permits

Metro Nashville requires a $50 certificate from the health department to possess wildlife like Class I or IV species, pumas, cougars, or wolves, but animal rehabilitation centers, zoos, and schools are exempt and need no certificate.

Key details: Application fee: $50 initial certificate fee. Renewal fee: $25 per year. Council review: 60-day council approval window. Rescue/rehab exemption: No permit for rehab centers, zoos. Acreage exemption: Exempt on parcels of 3+ acres.

Possessing wildlife without a certificate is unlawful under § 8.16.020. Metro's general penalty caps fines at $50 per day, with each day of violation a separate offense under § 1.01.030.

This is not one of those rules that cities tend to ignore. Nashville actively enforces its wildlife rescue permits requirements.

Pet Groomer Rules

Metro Nashville's home-occupation rules expressly exclude animal grooming activities, so a pet groomer cannot run a grooming business out of a house or accessory building, even by appointment only.

Key details: Rule: Animal grooming barred as home occupation. Citation: Metro Code § 17.16.250(D)(5)(c)(iv). Penalty: $50 per day, per violation. Alternative: Must locate in commercial/industrial zone.

Running a pet-grooming business from a home or accessory building violates § 17.16.250(D)(5)(c)(iv); other Subsection D home-occupation violations draw a $50-per-day fine under § 17.16.250(D)(7)(b).

This is one of the stricter rules in Nashville's municipal code. If you are unsure whether your situation complies, it is worth checking with the city before proceeding.

Pet Store Rules

Metro Nashville pet stores can only sell dogs and cats obtained from an animal care facility or a nonprofit rescue, never from a breeder or broker, and no animal under eight weeks old goes up for sale.

Key details: Allowed source: Animal care facility or rescue only. Minimum age: No sale under eight weeks old. Recordkeeping: Acquisition records kept one year. Penalty: $50 per day, per animal. Enforcement: Health Dept. and Codes Administration.

Violating any part of Chapter 8.30 carries a $50 civil penalty per day, per animal: each dog or cat offered for sale in breach counts as a separate offense.

This is one of the stricter rules in Nashville's municipal code. If you are unsure whether your situation complies, it is worth checking with the city before proceeding.

Pet Limits

Metro Nashville bars keeping more than five companion animals if their owner shows general disregard for their conditions, denying food, water, shelter, or care.

Key details: Threshold: More than 5 companion animals. Standard: General disregard for living conditions. Penalty: Misdemeanor conviction. Repeat offense: Mandatory sterilization of animals. Enforcement: Metro Animal Control, countywide.

First offense: court may bar animal ownership, order a behavioral health evaluation, forfeiture, and fines; sterilization becomes mandatory upon a second companion animal hoarding conviction, plus additional fees and fines.

Compared to other cities, Nashville takes a harder line on pet limits. The enforcement and penalty structure reflects that.

Microchipping

Nashville doesn't require pet owners to microchip their animals. Metro Animal Control can implant a microchip in any impounded dog before release, billed to the owner, and Metro General Sessions Court can order a vicious dog microchipped or tattooed for identification as a release condition.

Key details: Routine microchipping: Not required for pet owners. Impounded dogs: Microchip authorized at owner's expense (§8.04.140). Vicious dogs: Court can order microchip/tattoo (§8.08.060). Licensing method: Tag + rabies certificate, not chip (§8.04.030).

There's no separate microchipping violation: the exposure comes with impoundment. Owners pay actual microchipping and veterinary costs, on top of impoundment and boarding fees, before Metro releases the dog.

The rules around microchipping in Nashville lean permissive, but that does not mean anything goes.

Cat Rules

Metro Nashville requires owned cats over six months to be rabies-vaccinated and licensed through the Health Department, but community cats fed by neighborhood caregivers are exempt from licensing, stray, abandonment, and at-large rules entirely.

Key details: License required: cats over 6 months old. Community cats: fully exempt from licensing. At-large law: does not apply to cats. Enforcing agency: Metro Health Dept., Animal Care & Control. Max penalty: $50 civil infraction per day.

General chapter violations are civil infractions heard in general sessions court, punishable by up to $50 per day per animal, cited under Metro Code § 8.04.210; community cats and their caregivers are exempt from these provisions by definition.

Veterinary Clinic Zoning

Metro Nashville caps veterinary clinics at 4,000 square feet of building footprint and requires outdoor exercise yards to be fully fenced, used only 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and buffered from adjacent residential zones.

Key details: Building footprint cap: 4,000 sq ft maximum. Animal boarding: Enclosed structures only. Outdoor exercise yard hours: Fenced, 7 a.m.–7 p.m. only. Residential buffer: Buffer Yard Standard B required. Ancillary kennel space: Max 30% of clinic floor area.

Metro's land use code (§ 17.16.010(C)) bars issuing any zoning permit for a use listed as 'permitted with conditions', including veterinary clinics, until it meets these footprint, boarding, and buffer-yard standards.

Breed Restrictions

Metro Nashville does not ban specific dog breeds: a dog becomes "vicious" under Metropolitan Code Chapter 8.08 only after it bites, seriously injures, or kills without provocation, or is kept for dogfighting, triggering mandatory confinement and court oversight.

Key details: Breed regulation: None: behavior-based classification only. Vicious dog trigger: Unprovoked bite, injury, death, or fighting. Required enclosure: 6-ft fence, buried base, locked gate. Court remedy: Destruction, enclosure order, or ownership ban. Jurisdiction: Davidson County GSD; satellite cities exempt.

Harboring an unconfined vicious dog is unlawful under § 8.08.030; violators face impoundment fees, court-ordered secure enclosure or humane destruction of the dog, and can be barred from owning animals for a period the court sets.

This is one of the stricter rules in Nashville's municipal code. If you are unsure whether your situation complies, it is worth checking with the city before proceeding.

Dog Leash Laws

Metro Nashville bars letting any dog or other animal run at large; owners must keep it on their own property or physically restrain it off-premises, with fines starting at $50 per animal.

Key details: Governing law: Metro Code § 8.04.120. First-offense fine: $50 per animal. Enforcement: Animal care & control, police. Key exemptions: Hunting, tracking, guard dogs, cats. Repeat violations: Fence order, then impoundment.

First violation: $50 per animal (waivable if spayed/neutered). Fines repeat at $50 through the fourth violation, which also triggers a court-ordered secure fence; a fifth violation adds seizure and impoundment by the health department.

Chickens & Livestock

Metro Nashville requires a $25 annual permit from the department of health to keep domesticated hens outside agricultural-zoned land, and a separate livestock permit for cattle, sheep, horses or goats within 1,000 feet of a residence in the Urban Services District.

Key details: Chicken permit fee: $25 per year. Henhouse space: 2 sq ft per hen. Livestock permit trigger: within 1,000 ft of residence (USD). Hogs: banned in Urban Services District. Chicken violation fine: $50 per day.

Violating the chicken permit rules carries a $50 fine per day, each day a separate offense; keeping hogs in the Urban Services District is declared an unlawful nuisance subject to enforcement.

Mandatory Spay/Neuter

Metro Nashville courts must order pet sterilization after a second cruelty or companion-animal-hoarding conviction, not a blanket citywide spay/neuter law.

Key details: Trigger: Second cruelty or hoarding conviction. Court: Metro general sessions court. First offense: Sterilization discretionary, not required. Governing sections: MCL §§ 8.12.030(G), 8.12.080(C).

First conviction for cruelty or hoarding: sterilization is one of several remedies the court may order, at its discretion. Second conviction: the court must order the animals sterilized.

Exotic Pets

Metro Nashville bans keeping wildlife, Class I and IV species plus pumas, cougars, cheetahs and wolves, as pets without a $50 certificate approved by the Metro Council; the ban does not reach lots of three acres or more.

Key details: Governing law: Metro Code Ch. 8.16. Covered animals: Class I/IV wildlife, big cats, wolves. Certificate fee: $50 application, $25 renewal. Approval required: Metro Council resolution vote. Acreage exemption: 3+ acre premises exempt.

No specific penalty is written into Chapter 8.16, so the Code's general penalty section applies: violations are punishable by up to $50, with every day the animal is kept without a certificate counted as a separate offense.

This is one of the stricter rules in Nashville's municipal code. If you are unsure whether your situation complies, it is worth checking with the city before proceeding.

The Bottom Line

Nashville is tougher than many cities when it comes to animal ordinances. Out of the 13 rules covered here, 7 are rated strict. If you are a homeowner, renter, or business owner in Nashville, take the time to understand these requirements before they become a problem. Most violations come with fines, and some repeat violations can escalate.

Keep in mind that Nashville can amend these rules at any council meeting. For the most current version of any rule mentioned here, check the specific ordinance page, where we track updates as they happen.