Animal Ordinances in Kentucky (2026)

Kentucky law forbids anyone from letting cattle run at large. Owners are liable for all damage the animals cause…

Lexington-Fayette County Code § 4-11 makes it unlawful to keep hogs, goats or pigs anywhere in the Urban County…

Boone County, Kentucky regulates livestock through its general animal-control chapter, not through a backyard-chicken…

Daviess County bars keeping livestock or a non-domestic animal on residential property under two acres within 100 feet…

Kenton County law requires anyone who keeps livestock to provide adequate shelter under Chapter 90, and makes it…

Louisville Metro requires livestock heavier than 350 pounds to be kept on at least one acre, limits backyard pigs to…

Campbell County's animal code treats chickens and other fowl as livestock and requires that livestock be kept under…

In unincorporated Boone County, Kentucky, a dog off its owner's property must be "restrained" by a leash, chain or…

Campbell County Code § 90.02 makes it unlawful for an owner or keeper to let a dog, licensed or not, leave its home…

Daviess County requires owners to restrain every domestic animal except cats under Code of Ordinances Section 90.10…

Kenton County Code § 90.15(A) makes it unlawful for any owner to let a dog or other animal run at large in the…

Every dog in Lexington-Fayette must be confined on the owner's property or kept on a leash off it. LFUCG Code Sec. 4-19…

Louisville Metro requires every dog to be under restraint at all times, and off the owner's property that means on a…

Boone County, Kentucky does not ban any dog breed by name. Chapter 91 instead declares an animal "vicious" based on its…

Campbell County has no breed-specific dog ordinance; instead § 90.03 targets any animal declared vicious based on its…

Daviess County has no breed-specific ban; instead Code of Ordinances Section 90.30 defines a dangerous dog by conduct…

Lexington-Fayette has no breed ban; instead LFUCG Code Sec. 4-14 lets a court declare any individual dog vicious after…

Louisville Metro judges dogs by behavior, not breed: a dog is declared dangerous or potentially dangerous only after a…

Kenton County's animal code regulates dangerous dogs by behavior, not breed. Section 90.01 expressly states an animal…

Kentucky requires beekeepers to register colonies with the State Apiarist and comply with disease inspection…

Kentucky prohibits importing, possessing, or transporting designated inherently dangerous wildlife as exotic pets. The…

Boone County, Kentucky bans keeping wild or exotic animals as pets outright. Section 91.21 makes it unlawful to "sell…

Campbell County prohibits owning, harboring, selling, or keeping a dangerous animal as a pet except in strict…

Daviess County bans keeping non-domestic animals, including wolves, coyotes, foxes, non-human primates and venomous…

Lexington-Fayette County Code § 4-11.1 makes it unlawful to keep any wildlife the Kentucky Department of Fish and…

Louisville Metro bans keeping wild, exotic, or endangered animals as pets, with narrow exceptions for zoos, circuses…

Kenton County Code § 90.16 bans owning, harboring, keeping or selling any wild or exotic animal, foreign or native, as…

Kentucky bars feeding wildlife statewide from March 1 through July 31 under 301 KAR 2:015, and prohibits feeding and…

Kentucky has no stand-alone hoarding statute. Neglecting a hoard of animals is prosecuted under KRS 525.130 as cruelty…

Louisville Metro caps outdoor dogs at three per lot up to half an acre, seven on lots between a half-acre and two…

Louisville Metro requires every cat to be licensed through Metro Animal Services with proof of rabies vaccination…

Boone County, Kentucky treats free-roaming cats differently depending on whether they are ear-tipped community cats. An…

Campbell County Code § 90.30 bans pet shops from selling, bartering or giving away live cats or kittens, and bans…

Lexington-Fayette County Code § 4-12.3 requires every dog or cat six months or older to carry an annual county license…

Boone County, Kentucky requires every dog and cat adopted from the county animal shelter, a licensed humane society or…

Campbell County Code § 90.10 requires every dog and cat adopted from Campbell County Animal Services, including animals…

Daviess County will not release an animal for adoption from its Animal Shelter under Code of Ordinances Section 90.12…

Lexington-Fayette County Code § 4-1.1 requires any person or nonprofit placing ten or more dogs or cats in a calendar…

Kenton County does not require owners countywide to spay or neuter their pets. The mandatory spay/neuter duty in §…

Campbell County Animal Services runs a mandatory microchipping program for every dog and cat it places into adoption…

Lexington-Fayette does not require microchipping of dogs generally, but LFUCG Code Sec. 4-14 makes it mandatory for any…

Louisville Metro requires every dog and cat to carry a registered microchip, with fines up to $500 per violation for…

Boone County, Kentucky does not require every dog or cat to be microchipped. The only mandatory-microchip rule in…

Pet shops in Campbell County cannot display, sell, deliver, barter, or give away any live dog, puppy, cat or kitten…

Lexington-Fayette County Code § 4-13, adopted in June 2024, makes it unlawful for any retail pet store to sell or offer…

Louisville Metro bans retail pet stores from selling dogs or cats outright, while still allowing shelters and rescues…

Boone County does not ban pet-shop sales of dogs or cats and does not require adoption-only stores. Instead, every…

Home-based pet grooming is a permitted general home-based business in Campbell County under § 154.046(C)(3)(i), allowed…

Pet grooming businesses are a permitted use in Louisville Metro's commercial zoning districts only if the operation…

Campbell County allows animal hospitals and veterinary clinics as a permitted use in three separate zoning districts…

Louisville Metro allows veterinary hospitals as a permitted use in C-1 Commercial zones, but only inside a soundproofed…

Campbell County bans hunting, capturing, harming or even touching any bird or wild animal inside its parks under Code…

Louisville Metro bans keeping wild or exotic animals, but authorized wildlife rehabilitators holding a state-issued…

Campbell County doesn't issue its own wildlife rehabilitation permit. Instead, its dangerous-animal ban carves out…