CA Health & Safety Code Section 121918


For the protection and welfare of any dog under this chapter, the local public agency may adopt an ordinance to require or prohibit any of the following:

(a)

Any permittee shall supply each animal with sufficient, good, and wholesome food and water as often as the feeding habits of the animal requires.

(b)

Any permittee shall keep each animal and animal quarters in a clean and sanitary condition.

(c)

Any permittee shall provide each animal with proper shelter and protection from the weather at all times. An animal shall not be overcrowded or exposed to temperatures detrimental to the welfare of the animal.

(d)

Any permittee shall not allow any animal to be without care or control in excess of 12 consecutive hours.

(e)

Any permittee shall take every reasonable precaution to ensure that no animal is teased, abused, mistreated, annoyed, tormented, or in any manner made to suffer by any person or by any means.

(f)

Any permittee shall not maintain or allow any animal to exist in any manner that is, or could be, injurious to that animal.

(g)

Any permittee shall not give an animal any alcoholic beverage, unless prescribed by a veterinarian.

(h)

Animals that are natural enemies, temperamentally unsuited, or otherwise incompatible, shall not be quartered together or so near each other as to cause injury, fear, or torment.

(i)

Any tack equipment, device, substance, or material that is, or could be, injurious or cause unnecessary cruelty to any animal shall be prohibited.

(j)

The permittee shall keep or maintain animals confined at all times on the premises for which the permit has been issued, unless special permission to remove the animals has been obtained from the department. The permittee shall have full responsibility for recapturing any animal that escapes.

(k)

The permittee shall give proper rest periods to any working animal. Any confined or restrained animal shall be given exercise proper for the individual animal under the particular conditions. ( l) The permittee shall not work, use, or rent any animal that is overheated, weakened, exhausted, sick, injured, diseased, lame, or otherwise unfit.

(m)

No animal that the local public agency has suspended from use shall be worked or used until released by the local public agency.

(n)

The permittee shall display no animal bearing evidence of malnutrition, ill health, unhealed injury, or having been kept in an unsanitary condition.

(o)

The permittee shall keep or maintain each animal in a manner as may be prescribed to protect the public from the animal, and the animal from the public.

(p)

The local public agency may order any animal to be taken to a veterinarian for examination or treatment.

(q)

The permittee shall display no animal whose appearance is, or may be, offensive or contrary to public decency.

(r)

The permittee shall allow no animal to constitute or cause a hazard or be a menace to the health, peace, or safety of the community.

(s)

The permittee shall isolate at all times any sick or diseased animal from any healthy animal, and adequately segregate them so that the illness or disease will not be transmitted from one animal to another. In the case of pet shops, no sick, diseased, or injured animal defined by this chapter may be maintained on the premises for any purpose. Any sick or injured animal shall be isolated and given proper medical treatment.

(t)

The permittee shall immediately notify the owner of any animal held on consignment or boarded if the animal refuses to eat or drink beyond a reasonable period, is injured, becomes sick, or dies. In case of death, permittee shall retain the body for 12 hours after notification has been sent to the owner.
Last Updated

Aug. 19, 2023

§ 121918’s source at ca​.gov