What Is the Legal Limit for Animals in a Home?

The number of pets allowed in a home differs from state to state and often from county to county. Some places have no limit laws and others, especially city centers, impose fairly low limits. Because of this range in rules, check your municipality's pet and zoning laws to determine how many animals you can have without breaking the law.

  1. Standard Rules

    • Places that have pet limit laws often focus on restricting only the number of cats and dogs in each residence without mentioning smaller animals. There are exceptions to this, such as in Salt Lake City, Utah, where each household can have only two rabbits. Another general rule that applies for most limit laws is that the number of dogs allowed is below five while the number of cats can be slightly above five. Salt Lake City is an example of an exception to this rule as well, as the limit for both pets is the same relatively low number: two.

    Exemptions

    • In some states, certain owners are exempt from limit laws. Exemption cases include special groups, such as licensed breeders and boarding facilities, and owners who licensed their pets before the limit law took effect. For example, in Oakland, California, the limit for dogs per household is three, but one home can have more than three dogs if they were licensed before Jan. 1, 2006.

    Why Do Limits Exist?

    • Many groups take issue with pet limit laws because they believe the limitations cause more animals to be homeless needlessly. However, these restrictions are put in place to ensure the best interests for each municipality are met. The laws do this by limiting the noise, odor and disturbances caused by animals in the community.

    Enforcement

    • It is rare that a member of Animal Control will perform any sort of routine check on the number of animals in each household of their jurisdiction, as this would be time-consuming and intrusive to pet-owners' lives. Most often Animal Control checks into the pet situation at a home when they receive a complaint or concern. Since homes with larger numbers of animals are more likely to attract negative attention, they are more likely to be caught breaking the law.