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Subjects › Public Safety › Animal Control › Number of Animals Permitted in Urban Area Households
Updated 09/2010

Number of Animals Permitted in Urban Area Households

Contents

About Regulating the Number of Animals Permitted

These sample provisions establish limits on the number of animals that may be maintained by individual households.  Some jurisdictions require that households having more than a certain number of animals (usually three or four dogs or cats) obtain a hobby kennel license.  Others simply place a fixed limit on the number of animals permitted, and still others have further variations.  Shoreline has no restriction on the number of cats kept inside.  Wenatchee provides for an excess animal license and Brier provides for additional pets under a conditional use permit.   In residential zones in the more rural counties, animal regulations tend to be based on the size of the lot.

  • Several courts have ruled that ordinances restricting the number of animals that can be kept at a single place of residence constitute a valid use of the local police power, if they are reasonable and not arbitrary.  See Ramm v. City of Seattle, 66 Wn. App. 15 (1992)
  • Legal Pet Limits: How Many Are Enough? by Ellen Howle, American City and County, October 2004

Sample Provisions

  • Brier Municipal Code Section 6.04.170 (Adobe Acrobat Document) - Number Permitted
  • Brier Municipal Code, Zoning Code  Ch. 17.16 (Adobe Acrobat Document)  - Home Animal Agriculture Regulations
  • Douglas County Code Section 6.04.230 - Prohibitions within Animal Control Zone -  See H for number of livestock allowed
  • Franklin County Zoning Code Ch. 13 (Adobe Acrobat Document) - R-S-40 Suburban Zone -  See 13.3.0 - Permitted Accessory Uses
  • Lynnwood Municipal Code Section 6.02.130 - Maximum Number of Dogs and/or Cats Permitted
  • Moses Lake Municipal Code Sec. 6.05.050 (Adobe Acrobat Document) - Kennel License  - required where more than 3 dogs or 4 cats
  • Kennewick Municipal Code Section 18.12.010 (Adobe Acrobat Document) - Residential Use Table  - See Animal keeping
  • Redmond Municipal Code Section 7.04.152 - Household Pets
  • SeaTac Ordinance 03-1022 (Adobe Acrobat Document) increases the number of domestic animals allowed, provides criteria for replacement of legal nonconforming horses, and changes the criteria to apply for a Horse Overlay Zoning District.
  • Seattle Municipal Code Section  23.44.048 - Keeping of animals
  • Shoreline Municipal Code, Land Use Code Section 20.40.240 - Animals
  • Walla Walla Municipal Code Chapter 20.130 - Zoning - Animals
  • Wenatchee Municipal Code Section 5.28.020 - Excess Pet License