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…

Bowling Green allows up to five non-crowing poultry per property but bans roosters, crowing poultry and peafowl…

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

Unincorporated Franklin County, Kentucky bars poultry of any kind on lots under 0.75 acre, caps non-crowing chickens by…

In Jessamine County, Kentucky, it is unlawful to permit livestock to run at large, and impounded livestock is held for…

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…

In unincorporated McCracken County, Kentucky, owners of cattle, horses, goats, sheep, swine, emus, and ostriches must…

In the City of Owensboro, Owensboro Municipal Code § 4-1 bars livestock like horses, cattle, and goats on lots under…

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…

Off its owner's property, a Bowling Green dog must be restrained by a lead or leash and under a responsible person's…

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…

In unincorporated Franklin County, Kentucky, § 90.02 of the county code requires every dog to be restrained, meaning…

In Jessamine County, Kentucky, a dog owner must keep the canine on the owner's property 24 hours a day, by leash…

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…

It is unlawful in unincorporated McCracken County to let a dog run at large under § 50.06(A); the code defines…

In unincorporated Oldham County, every dog must be under restraint at all times, and any dog off its owner's property…

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…

McCracken County has no breed ban; instead it declares an animal "vicious" based on documented behavior, such as an…

In unincorporated Franklin County, Kentucky, § 90.06 makes it unlawful to harbor or keep any dog with vicious…

Jessamine County's vicious canine rules turn on conduct, and the code states that a canine shall not be deemed vicious…

Bowling Green does not single out any dog breed. Sec. 5-1.01 defines a 'vicious or dangerous animal' purely by conduct…

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

Oldham County Code does not restrict or ban any dog breed by name. Instead, Chapter 90 defines and punishes a vicious…

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

In the City of Owensboro, Owensboro Municipal Code § 4-4 declares the keeping of bees within the corporate limits a…

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…

In unincorporated Franklin County, Kentucky, § 90.21 bars anyone from importing or possessing two lists of animals…

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…

McCracken County outright bans selling, owning, harboring or keeping as a pet any non-indigenous wild or exotic animal…

Oldham County bans keeping dangerous wild animals, poisonous reptiles, and named hybrids anywhere in the unincorporated…

Keeping an exotic or wild animal in Bowling Green requires written permission from the Neighborhood and Community…

Jessamine County, Kentucky makes it unlawful to sell, own, harbor or keep as a pet a wild or exotic animal not…

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…

Bowling Green sets no cap on ordinary household pets, but any property that for profit keeps, breeds, boards or kennels…

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…

In the City of Bowling Green, Kentucky, every cat three months or older must be licensed, registered and…

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…

McCracken County does not license cats; only dogs are licensed under § 50.03. Cats still must be rabies-vaccinated…

Oldham County does not license cats the way it licenses dogs, but every cat four months or older must carry current…

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…

In Jessamine County, Kentucky, the spay/neuter mandate attaches to shelter adoptions: all canines and felines adopted…

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…

In Jessamine County, Kentucky, every animal released from the county animal shelter, whether by return to owner or by…

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…

In unincorporated McCracken County, an owner who wants to keep a dog or other animal after a vicious-animal conviction…

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

Oldham County does not require every pet to be microchipped, but any dog impounded at the county Animal Shelter that is…

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…

Oldham County allows pet shops to sell animals but requires every shop to be licensed and to meet Chapter 90's minimum…

A Bowling Green property that grooms, boards or kennels more than six cats and dogs at one time for profit needs a…

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…

In the City of Owensboro, pet grooming is a listed use in the joint Owensboro-Daviess County Zoning Ordinance's Zones…

In unincorporated Franklin County, Kentucky, an animal hospital or veterinary clinic in the CL Rural Limited Commercial…

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…

In unincorporated McCracken County, Kentucky, veterinary facilities and kennels are a permitted use by right in the…

In the City of Owensboro, a kennel, animal hospital, or veterinarian's office must sit at least 100 feet from any…

In the City of Owensboro, Owensboro Municipal Code § 4-3 makes it unlawful to shoot, pursue, kill, or injure any…

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…

Unincorporated McCracken County bans owning, selling or harboring any wild or exotic animal, native or non-native, plus…

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