Animal Ordinances in Austin, TX (2026)
13 verified animal ordinances for Austin, Texas, sourced directly from the municipal code and official government pages.
Verified from official government sources
Chickens & Livestock
Austin City Code Chapter 3-2 allows up to 10 chickens on most residential lots with setbacks of 50 feet from neighboring dwellings for coops. Roosters are allowed but subject to noise enforcement. Livestock (goats, pigs, cattle) require minimum lot sizes.
Austin Chickens and Livestock Rules
Few RestrictionsTex. Agric. Code Sec. 161.001
Sec. 161.001. DEFINITIONS. (a) In this chapter: (1) "Animal" includes livestock, exotic livestock, domestic fowl, and exotic fowl. (2) "Commission" means the Texas Animal Health Commission. (4) "Exotic livestock" means grass-eating or plant-eating, single-hooved or cloven-hooved mammals that are not indigenous to this state and are known as ungulates, including animals from the swine, horse, ta...
Dog Leash Laws
Austin City Code Chapter 3-4 requires dogs in public to be restrained on a leash no longer than 6 feet, with limited exceptions for designated off-leash areas including Red Bud Isle, portions of Auditorium Shores, and parts of Zilker Park. Violations are Class C misdemeanors enforced by Austin Animal Services and APD.
Austin Dog Leash Laws
Light RestrictionsTexas Health and Safety Code Sec. 822.006-822.007 (Defense; Local Regulation of Dogs)
Sec. 822.007. LOCAL REGULATION OF DOGS. This subchapter does not prohibit a municipality or county from adopting leash or registration requirements applicable to dogs. Sec. 822.006. ... (i) It is a defense to prosecution under Section 822.005(a) that, at the time of the conduct charged, the person's dog was on a leash and the person: (1) was in immediate control of the dog; or (2) if the person...
Breed Restrictions
Austin does not regulate dogs by breed. Instead, its vicious dog ordinance labels any dog that killed or seriously injured another animal while running at large as vicious after a health authority investigation, and then requires that dog's owner to keep it leashed or enclosed, disclose the finding to boarding facilities, and prove rabies vaccination and microchipping.
Austin Has No Breed Bans, Uses Vicious Dog Rule
Some RestrictionsAustin City Code Sec. 3-4-7(A)-(B), (E)
(A)An owner or handler shall take reasonable measures to protect the public from accidental contact with a dog that, by nature or by training, is dangerous to other animals.(B)For purposes of this section, a vicious dog is a dog that, while running at large, has:(1)killed a dog, cat, or other domestic pet, fowl, or livestock...; or(2)seriously injured another animal to an extent that an attendi...
Beekeeping
Austin allows residential beekeeping under City Code Chapter 3-2 with no colony cap, provided hives are set back 10 feet from property lines and behind a 6-foot flyway barrier if within 25 feet of a neighbor. Texas Agriculture Code Chapter 131 regulates registration and disease control.
Austin Beekeeping Rules
Light RestrictionsTex. Agric. Code Sec. 131.045 (Beekeeper Registration)
Sec. 131.045. BEEKEEPER REGISTRATION. (a) Each beekeeper in this state may register on an annual basis with the chief apiary inspector. A registration under this section expires August 31 following the date the registration is issued. (b) A registration must include: (1) information required by the chief apiary inspector; and (2) the county or counties in which the beekeeper operates. (c) The i...
Exotic Pets
Austin prohibits keeping, possessing, or controlling a dangerous animal, defined to include any species listed as a dangerous wild animal under state law plus any wild or feral mammal or reptile capable of inflicting serious injury. Only zoos, museums, licensed vet clinics, traveling exhibitions, and permitted rehabbers may hold one, and only in a secure enclosure.
Austin Bans Keeping Dangerous Wild Animals
Heavy RestrictionsAustin City Code Sec. 3-1-1(3); Sec. 3-5-1(A)
DANGEROUS ANIMAL means, regardless of the individual animal's age or health: (a) An animal of a species defined as a "dangerous wild animal" in Subchapter E (Dangerous Wild Animals), Chapter 822 (Regulation of Animals), of the Texas Health and Safety Code; or (b) An animal of any other species of wild or feral mammal or reptile that by its nature or breeding is capable of inflicting serious bod...
Wildlife Feeding
Austin makes it an offense to intentionally feed deer or leave food where deer can get to it anywhere in the city, on private or public property, under City Code Sec. 10-8-3. Placing food on the ground or on a platform under five feet high creates a legal presumption that the feeding was intentional.
Austin Bans Intentionally Feeding Deer
Significant RestrictionsAustin City Code Sec. 10-8-3
(A)Except as provided in subsection (C), a person commits an offense if the person intentionally feeds deer or makes food available for consumption by deer on private or public property within the territorial limits of the city.(B)A person shall be presumed to have intentionally fed deer, or made food available for consumption by deer, if the person places food, or causes food to be placed, on ...
Cat Rules
Austin City Code Chapter 3-2 requires cats over four months old to be licensed and currently vaccinated against rabies under Texas Health & Safety Code Chapter 826. Austin Animal Services supports community cat trap-neuter-return programs alongside its No-Kill mission.
Cat Licensing and Texas Rabies Vaccination Requirement
Light RestrictionsTex. Health & Safety Code Sec. 826.021
Sec. 826.021. VACCINATION OF DOGS AND CATS REQUIRED. (a) Except as otherwise provided by department rule, the owner of a dog or cat shall have the animal vaccinated against rabies by the time the animal is four months of age and at regular intervals thereafter as prescribed by department rule. (b) A veterinarian who vaccinates a dog or cat against rabies shall issue to the animal's owner a vacc...
Mandatory Spay/Neuter
Austin City Code Section 3-4-29 requires all dogs and cats over six months old to be spayed or neutered. Owners wishing to keep intact animals must obtain an annual breeder or intact-animal permit. The ordinance is among the strongest in Texas.
Austin Mandatory Spay-Neuter: One of Strongest in Texas
Some RestrictionsTex. Health & Safety Code Secs. 828.002-828.003
Sec. 828.002. REQUIREMENTS FOR ADOPTION. Except as provided by Section 828.013, a releasing agency may not release a dog or cat for adoption unless the animal has been sterilized or the release is made to a new owner who signs an agreement to have the animal sterilized. Sec. 828.003. STERILIZATION AGREEMENT. (a) The sterilization agreement used by a releasing agency must contain: ... (5) a stat...
Microchipping
Austin requires the owner of any non-wildlife, non-livestock animal at least four months old to have it implanted with a registered identification microchip and to keep the registration current. Owners must update contact information within 30 days of a move, and both parties must re-register within 30 days when ownership changes.
Austin Requires Microchips for Pets Over 4 Months
Some RestrictionsAustin City Code Sec. 3-2-5(H)
(H)Microchipping.(1)This subsection applies to animals at least four months of age that are not wildlife or livestock.(2)In this subsection, MICROCHIPPED ANIMAL means an animal implanted with a registered identification microchip.(3)The owner of an animal is responsible for having each animal in their possession microchipped and for maintaining a current registration with a microchip registrati...
Pet Store Rules
Austin's Commerce in Live Animals ordinance makes it an offense for a pet trader to sell a dog or cat away from the place it was bred, and bans selling any live animal on roadsides, parking lots, or at flea markets and swap meets. Compliant on-site sales still require a processing fee, a microchip, and detailed written disclosures to the buyer.
Austin Bans Off-Site Retail Sale of Pets
Significant RestrictionsAustin City Code Sec. 3-2-3(A)-(C)
(A) A pet trader commits an offense if the pet trader conducts a retail sale in violation of Subsections (E) through (G) of this section. (B) A pet trader commits an offense if the pet trader conducts an off-site retail sale. (C) A person commits an offense if the person sells, trades, barters, leases, rents, gives away, or displays for a commercial purpose a live animal on a roadside, public r...
Pet Groomer Rules
Austin's Land Development Code treats pet grooming as part of the PET SERVICES use classification under Sec. 25-2-4(B)(54), covering retail sale of household pets and veterinary, grooming, or boarding services conducted entirely inside a building. Where PET SERVICES is allowed, and whether it's permitted or conditional, depends on the base zoning district's use list in Sec. 25-2-491.
Austin Pet Grooming Zoning Use Classification
Some RestrictionsAustin City Code Sec. 25-2-4(B)(54)
§ 25-2-4 - COMMERCIAL USES DESCRIBED. (54)PET SERVICES use is the use of a site for the retail sale of small animals customarily used as household pets, or the provision of veterinary, grooming, or boarding services, totally within a building. This use includes pet stores, small animal clinics, and pet grooming shops, but excludes uses for livestock and large animals.
Veterinary Clinic Zoning
Austin's Land Development Code defines VETERINARY SERVICES as its own commercial use classification under Sec. 25-2-4(B)(73), covering animal hospitals and clinics for pets as well as livestock and large animals. Whether a veterinary clinic can operate on a given site depends on whether the base zoning district's permitted-use list allows VETERINARY SERVICES.
Austin Veterinary Services Zoning Classification
Some RestrictionsAustin City Code Sec. 25-2-4(B)(73)
§ 25-2-4 - COMMERCIAL USES DESCRIBED. (73)VETERINARY SERVICES use is the use of a site for provision of veterinary services and hospitals for animals. This use includes pet clinics, dog and cat hospitals, and veterinary hospitals for livestock and large animals.
Bird Protection
Austin makes it an offense to kill or injure any bird or fowl that does not belong to you, and adds an outright ban on killing, injuring, capturing, or selling mockingbirds and other native songbirds or robbing their nests. Pigeon keeping is separately capped at 100 birds per location, with a carve-out for banded competition birds.
Austin Bans Killing Native Songbirds and Wild Birds
Heavy RestrictionsAustin City Code Sec. 3-2-61; Sec. 3-2-64
Sec. 3-2-61 - KILLING OR INJURING A BIRD OR FOWL. A person may not kill or injure a bird or fowl that does not belong to the person. Sec. 3-2-64 - MOCKINGBIRDS OR OTHER NATIVE SONGBIRDS. (A) A person may not kill or injure a mockingbird or other native songbird. (B) A person may not rob or destroy the nest of a mockingbird or other native songbird. (C) A person may not capture, sell, or offer f...
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County ordinances apply to unincorporated areas and may supplement Austin city rules.
Animal Ordinances in Travis County →