Cat Licensing
Cat licensing is a cat registration and identification system administered by local governments to protect both cats and people. Cat licensing benefits cats, their owners, and the general public just as dog licensing has protected dogs, their owners and the general public for decades. When cat owners register their pets and pay the small fees, they have purchased an "insurance policy" that helps ensure the safe return of pets who stray from home. Cat licensing provides local officials with a useful tool to enforce laws protecting cats and communities, as well as funds to help offset the costs of animal protection and control. The community receives the public health benefits of these programs without the burden of increased property or income taxes. Following are answers to frequently asked questions about cat licensing.
1. Why have so many jurisdictions enacted cat licensing laws?
Cat licensing is a sensible approach for local governments to relieve the burdens of
increased cat related problems and increased budgetary constraints. Problems stem from
cats' growing popularity (there are now more cats in the United States than dogs), their
breeding potential, their potential role in the spread of rabies, and irresponsible
caretakers. The fees paid by cat owners help local governments, often operating under
severe budgetary constraints because of the many demands, including the need to provide
shelter for increasing numbers of cats. Cat licensing provides a way to raise needed
revenues from cat owners, who should rightly help pay for cat-related services, as dog
owners have historically been asked to do for dogs.
2. Does cat licensing help protect the public?
Absolutely. Without cat licensing, animal care and control agencies have a difficult time
protecting the public from problems ranging from trespassing on neighbors' property to
health concerns. Although cat bites do not often make the newspapers, cats frequently bite
humans and pose their own threat to public health. In fact, domestic cats account for as
many as one out of every five reported animal bites in communities that enforce reporting
requirements (in California alone, reports of cat bites number more than 10,000 every
year). Cats can also transmit 30 known diseases to humans, ranging from ringworm to
rabies.
3. Does cat licensing protect against rabies?
Yes. In fact, cat licensing is a vital tool for rabies control in rabies-epizootic areas.
Cats have surpassed dogs as the number-one domestic rabies "vector"--or link
between rabid wild animals and humans. They are one reason why the federal Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention reports that some 35,000 people must receive post-exposure
treatment each year to protect themselves against rabies. A well-written cat licensing
ordinance links licenses with rabies vaccinations, providing a needed enforcement tool in
states and localities where rabies vaccinations are mandatory.
4. Does cat licensing help reduce the suffering of cats?
Yes. Licensing gives cats many of the same legal protections dogs have benefited from for
years. In communities without cat licensing, humane agencies may be thwarted in their
efforts to protect cats. For example, licensed cats who stray from home can be returned to
their owners more quickly--and often without being impounded. Cat licensing can help
return a lost cat to the owner quickly and easily, and veterinarians are often more
willing to treat an injured cat if there is evidence the cat is owned.
5. Is it a good idea to require cats to wear collars and tags?
Yes. Adult cats who have never worn collars before may need an adjustment period, but they
are an essential identification tool. The number of stray cats impounded and euthanized
because they weren't licensed or because there was no cat-licensing law run in the
millions. The number of cats who have perished because their collars got stuck on
something is zero; The Humane Society of the United States is not aware of a single
documented case of a cat who strangled to death because of a collar catching on something.
In fact, since cats sometimes slide out of their collars, increasing numbers of
communities are promoting microchips as a back-up method of animal identification.
6. Does cat licensing lead to so-called roundup-and-kill"
programs?
No. Governments do not use cat licensing as justification for humanely trapping and
euthanizing every cat prowling around the neighborhood without a collar and tag. Nor do
governments have the resources to do so. In fact, many licensing laws do not authorize
humane agencies to impound unlicensed cats solely because they are unlicensed. Instead,
cat licensing empowers animal-control officials to quickly resolve problems by enabling
them to identify those persons responsible for cats who are suffering, breeding
indiscriminately, or lost.
7. Will cat licensing increase government revenues?
It depends on the jurisdiction. For the typical city or county that already responds to
cat-related complaints and already administers a dog licensing program, instituting cat
licensing will mean immediate increased revenues. For a city or county with a dog control
program but no cat control program, it may take several years to recoup the up front
program expenditures for new staff and training, new holding facilities and equipment, and
administration. It's important to understand two realities: First, no effective animal
care and control program can be fully funded from licensing revenue; license fees are
always a supplemental revenue source. Second, higher license fees and stricter enforcement
almost always translate into increased revenues.
8. Why do some cat lovers oppose cat licensing?
In some communities, a small but vocal minority of cat owners speak out against the
proposal, including breeders, cat owners who keep their cats indoors and do not see the
need in the mistaken belief that their cats can never slip out, and others who view
licensing as an intrusion by government into their private affairs. It is perfectly
understandable that citizens, asked to pay a new fee they have never had to pay before,
will initially criticize the proposal. Government officials must therefore strive to
educate these individuals about the benefits of licensing to all cats, not just those
lucky enough to already have responsible caretakers. Governments may appease these
responsible cat owners by offering discounts for sterilized cats, for multiple-cat
households, or for senior citizens and low-income cat owners.
9. Who else opposes cat licensing?
Critics may include people and organizations who are attempting to care for colonies of
fetal cats. Government officials are often caught in the middle, between feeders of cat
colonies (and the organizations that support them) and animal protection advocates who
support and are often the strongest proponents of cat licensing. Some jurisdictions with
cat licensing permit caretakers of cat colonies to register, but exempt them from having
to license the cats in the colony.
10. Does licensing promote spaying and neutering?
Yes, through differential licensing, whereby license fees are set higher for unsterilized
animals than for sterilized animals. Differential licensing is as an incentive for spaying
and neutering pets, and is a sensible public policy. It places the burden of higher fees
on pet owners most likely to contribute to the surplus of cats and dogs and the many
animal control problems related to that surplus. Many communities have differential fees
of $5 for sterilized animals and anywhere from $10 to %25 or even higher for unsterilized
animals.
11. Who supports cat licensing?
The Humane Society of the United States, the American Humane Association, the National
Animal Control Association, the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians,
the California Veterinary Medical Association, the Massachusetts SPCA, the vast majority
of local humane societies and animal control departments, and countless individual humane
advocates and public health veterinarians support cat licensing.
Adapted from The Humane Society of the United States, The HSUS Fact Sheet: Cat Licensing. 1995. For more information, contact HSUS at (202)452-1100.