PIJAC Perspectives

Will Dog and Cat Limit Laws Limit Product Sales?

Marshall Meyers

By Marshall Meyers
Executive VP, PIJAC

Media coverage of serious dog attacks, unsanitary boarding operations, animal cruelty, and allegations of significant numbers of unwanted dogs and cats being turned into shelters often results in local communities adopting restrictions on the numbers of dogs and cats one may keep in their homes and/or imposing high license or breeder permit fees for keeping an unaltered animal.

Some communities impose excessive permit fees ranging from $100 to $3,000 for owners of unaltered dogs or cats, particularly if they desire to breed their pets. Is this anything more than capitalizing on isolated incidents to justify curbing or at least restricting dog and cat ownership?

Limit laws, breeding bans, and excessive breeding permit fees designed to limit ownership ostensibly reduce or eliminate the likelihood that there will be “unwanted” pets. Proponents of such controls recognize that imposition of high fees, burdensome restrictions, and other ways to criminalize pet ownership are disincentives to ownership. And, such deterrents will reduce ownership and with less ownership comes less demand for dog/cat products.

Our industry needs to recognize that unwarranted and irrational prohibitions are not in the industry’s best interests. City and county ordinances limiting the number of intact breeding dogs and cats -- as low as no more than 2 -- one may keep in their homes clearly impacts hobby breeders. In some areas, pet owners not only face low limits per household, they also have to obtain expensive “breeding permits” as high as $3,000. The following table is a sampling of limit laws popping up around the country:

Davis County, UT
Bountiful – 2 dogs/cats
Kaysville – 2 pets
Layton/Sunset – 2 dogs/cats No more 6 other pets
North Salt Lake – 4 cats
Syracuse – 4 cats or small animals no more than 2 species

Maple Heights, OH – 5 pets
Lebanon, PA – 4 dogs/cats
Bethlehem, PA 6 dogs/cats
Racine, WI high fees – 1 litter
Wauwatosa, WI – 3 dogs/cats
Stanislaw County, CA – $100 unaltered dog; $100 dog/cat litter breeding per animal and no more than 1 litter per female
Los Angeles, CA – 3 dogs/cats $100 per unaltered dog; $100 breeder permit for dogs and cats and no more than 2 species

Camden, NY – High fees
Corpus Christi, TX – high fees
Hillsboro County, FL – high fees
Marlborough, MA – 3 cats and if 4-6 need special permit

Provo, UT – 2 dogs or 2 cats of same type
Riverside, CA – 4 dogs
Rogers County, OK – 5 dogs or cats but no more than 3 dogs
Warwick, RI – $100 per unaltered animal

One community, Simi Valley, California made it illegal to breed any dog or cat in a residential area. Following continued opposition subsequent to imposing the ban, the prohibition was amended in late September 2005 so “hobby breeders” no longer have to operate secretly. The city fathers voted to lift the outright “ban” and substituted the following breeding rules:

Cat breeders are allowed to have a maximum of 4 adult cats and as many as 2 litters per year. Kittens must be removed within 4 months
Dog breeders with lots exceeding 20,000 square feet can have 4 adult dogs and up to 2 litters per year, puppies must be removed within 4 months AND the property must be zoned for farm animals or horses.
If more dogs or cats are desired, the breeder can obtain a special breeder permit

if they live in a single-family detached house
if they have no more than 12 adult animals
if they are willing to pay a $1,500 permit fee (cats) or $3,000 fee for dogs.

In other related news, El Paso just passed an ordinance regulating dogs, cats and ferrets that includes mandatory microchipping, canvassing pet owners' homes, limits of 2 litters a year, a $75 litter permit, and licensing fees. The canvassing of people's homes and the authority to inspect one's home to see if there are any unregistered animals is a major intrusion into one's privacy.

While Simi Valley and El Paso represent the extreme, more and more communities are evaluating the feasibility of adopting local ordinances that impose some limits as to numbers as a well as significantly increase the licensee fees for unaltered dog. Very few communities license cats, but more and more are looking to breeding permits as an addition to or alternative to licensure. It appears that a minimum of a $100 license fee for unaltered dogs is becoming the norm and often couple with various permutation of breeder permits and/or litter limits. As breeding and ownership is curtailed through overly restrictive limits or excessive fees, an adverse impact on product sales is inevitable.

Marshall Meyers is the executive vice president and general counsel for PIJAC (Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council).