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For the purpose of this subchapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
ANIMAL CONTROL. The City Police Department, or a contracted agent.
CAT HOARDING. The accumulation of cats that has overwhelmed a person’s ability to provide minimum standards of care. Standards of care include nutrition, sanitation, shelter, veterinary care, and socialization causing disease, starvation, or death of cats confined and residing within a property residence or structure.
CAT OWNER. Any person who confines a cat(s) inside a residence or property structure for any length of time and is deemed personal property.
COMMUNITY CAT. Any cat that is not confined inside a residence or property structure for any length of time.
COMMUNITY CAT CAREGIVER. Any person who provides food, water, and shelter to free roaming cats, and does not confine cats inside a residence or property structure for any length of time.
EAR TIPPING. The removal of a one-fourth-inch tip from one ear of a community cat, performed while the cat is under anesthesia, to identify a community cat as being sterilized and lawfully vaccinated for rabies.
FREE ROAMING CAT. Any cat that can roam freely outside for any length of time including owned and community cats.
TRAP-NEUTER-RETURN (TNR). The process of humanely trapping, sterilizing, vaccinating for rabies, ear tipping, and returning a community cat to the location trapped. Permission to trap on privately owned property shall first be obtained.
(Ord. 754, passed 3-7-2023)
(A) Spay and neuter of free roaming cats. All free roaming cats shall be surgically spayed or neutered by a licensed veterinarian and rabies vaccinated residing within city limits voluntarily by the owner, caregiver, or through the TNR process.
(B) Spay and neuter of owned cats not free roaming. All owned cats that are not free roaming shall be spayed and neutered by four months of age. Exemptions include the procedure would endanger the health of the cat, the owner is a state licensed breeder, cats given temporary residence in a foster situation, the cat is used in show and performance competitions, a veterinarian does not recommend spay and neuter surgery until six months of age, or the combination of cats within a residence or property structure where the owner does not allow cats to reproduce or the combination of unaltered cats would not lead to reproduction. A veterinarian statement shall be required for all exemptions where applicable.
(Ord. 754, passed 3-7-2023)
All cats shall be returned to the area they were captured, except for cats needing additional medical attention for illness or injury or a cat appears to be owned and lost and after a five-day holding period in which the cat is not claimed by an owner. In addition, a community cat caregiver can request cats they feed be relocated for the health and safety of the cats. When cats are returned to their owners, the owners are required to show proof of ownership in the form of a licensing certificate, veterinary records, or photographs and the cats must be current on rabies vaccination and licensed with the city. The owner pays all applicable boarding, veterinary, and licensing fees.
(Ord. 754, passed 3-7-2023)
Any person found to be removing free-roaming cats from city limits for the sole purpose of dumping said cats in the country, concealing unaltered cats for the purpose of reproduction, releasing cats from traps, tampering with, stealing, damaging, or destroying TNR equipment. A $25 fine will be imposed plus equipment replacement cost if applicable for each offense.
(Ord. 754, passed 3-7-2023)
(A) Generally. Any person who shall own a cat in this subchapter, over the age of six months within the city shall, within 30 days after acquisition of the said cat, shall acquire a license for each cat annually by or before May 1 of each year. The said tax shall be delinquent from and after May 1; provided, the owner of any cat brought into or harbored within the corporate limits after May 1 of any year, shall be liable for the payment of the cat tax levied herein and such tax shall be delinquent if not paid within ten days thereafter. Licenses shall be issued by the City Clerk upon the payment of a license fee of an amount as set forth in the city’s fee schedule for each cat. Said license shall not be transferable and no refund will be allowed in case of death, sale, or other disposition of the licensed cat. The owner shall state at the time the application is made and upon printed forms provided for such purpose, his or her name and address and the name, breed, color, sex, and sterilization status of each cat owned. A certificate indicating the cat has been spayed or neutered and received a rabies vaccination, effective for the ensuing year of the license, shall be presented when the license is by him or her applied for and no license will be issued until the certificate is shown. Upon payment of the license fee, the City Clerk shall issue to the owner of a cat a license certificate and metallic tag for each cat so licensed. The metallic cat tags do not need to be attached to the collar and worn by said cat. The cat owner shall make that decision for their pet. All owned cats so licensed shall entitle the owner to keep or harbor the said cat until April 30 following such licensing. If a license tag is lost and upon satisfactory evidence that the original plate or tag was issued in accordance with the provisions herein, the City Clerk shall issue a duplicate or new tag for the balance of the year for which the license tax has been paid. All license fees and collections shall be immediately credited to the General Fund. It shall be the duty of the City Clerk to issue tags of a suitable design that are different in appearance each year.
(B) Wrongful licensing. It shall be unlawful for the owner of any cat to permit or allow such a cat to wear any license, metallic tag, or other city identification than that issued by the City Clerk for cats.
(Ord. 754, passed 3-7-2023) Penalty, see § 93.99
It shall be unlawful to kill, or to administer, or cause to be administered, poison of any sort to a cat, or in any manner to injure, maim, or destroy, or in any manner attempt to injure, maim, or destroy, or to place any poison, or poisoned food where the same is accessible to a cat.
(Ord. 754, passed 3-7-2023) Penalty, see § 93.99
Any owned cat not vaccinated in accordance with the provisions of this subchapter which has bitten any person and caused an abrasion of the skin, shall be confined for rabies observation not less than ten days by the owner. If the owner cannot confine the cat for ten days, the cat will be impounded and held for observation by animal control. If upon examination by a veterinarian, the cat has no clinical signs of rabies at the end of such confinement, it may be released to the owner after rabies vaccination, proper licensing, and spay or neuter in accordance with this subchapter, is shown to be completed. The owner will be required to pay all fees associated with confinement, vaccination, and any other needed veterinary care during the ten-day confinement period. Community cats that have bitten will be impounded and confined for rabies observation in the same manner and returned to its colony. Caregivers will not be held responsible for associated fees.
(Ord. 754, passed 3-7-2023)
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