The city ordinance went into effect on January 1, 2014. A downloadable copy can be obtained at the link at the end of this article. The new ordinance covers spay-neuter, microchipping, vaccinations and the sale of pets in public places. Waco’s goal is obviously to ensure a dog or cat is cared for, with the owner being held responsible, should the ordinance be violated.
DOG AND CAT OWNERS
The following pertains to dogs and cats over four months old
- Spay/neuter mandatory. This goes for community cats as well, as outlined in the Waco TNR program
- Dogs and cats must be vaccinated against rabies. This is state law, and not just a local ordinance
- All owned dogs and cats must be microchipped. TNR cats are exempt
- A dog or cat may be exempt due to health issues. A veterinarian must document the pet’s medical record, and the pet owner must provide this information to law enforcement or animal control, should they be asked.
BREEDERS
Breeders must have their pets microchipped, and must have a Health Statement issued by a veterinarian at least once every two years. This statement must include the pets microchip number.
It becomes the responsibility of the person who adopts from a breeder to obtain the documents on their new pet, as well as to transfer ownership to the microchip company.
LOW COST PROGRAMS
Residents of the City of Waco may qualify for free spay/neuter based on income or location. Residents in the 76708 zip code qualify for community cats, both outdoor and outdoor/indoor to have free TNR. This will include spay/neuter, rabies vaccine and the eartip performed during surgery. Loaner traps are provide for a refundable deposit to catch the cats needing TNR.
Other low cost options are available by calling 752-SPAY (Waco area only). Discount programs perform operations at Animal Birth Control Clinic and Crossroads Animal Clinic in Waco. Low cost programs for microchipping a pet are also available at several locations.
SELLING OF CATS AND DOGS
Dogs and cats may not be sold or given away at any roadside, parking lot, garage sale or flea market or any other public meeting area. This most likely has cut down on the number of “puppy mill” dogs taken to and sold on weekends at local flea markets.
OTHER HELPFUL INFO
The City of Waco also provides need-to-know information on issues such as tethering a dog, how to prevent having to surrender a pet, online sources to search for a lost pet, and rescue organizations willing to help rehome a pet.
WHAT IF
What if communities who read about the City of Waco decide to follow in their footsteps? Not only will this put responsible pet ownership out there for those who want the best for their pet, it also makes it affordable. And helping rehome a pet, or recover a dog or cat who is lost will cut down dramatically on the number of animals killed at local shelters. TNR, which has taken a hit over the past several years, will be embraced as a viable solution to curb the stray cat population.
This would in no way create the extinction of a species or breed, because no matter how hard we try, there will always be irresponsible pet owners. This will also protect those who breed cats and dogs to improve the bloodlines.
Readers, do you think this plan is a possible alternative to the hit and miss ideas out there today? Your comments are welcome.
Downloadable copy of the ordinance, as well as information helpful to dog and cat owners can be found here.
I’m amazed that any Texas city would enact something as good as this.
You got that right. I thought all they knew to do in Texas was for police to be trained to shoot family dogs and get away with it.
I know that Cindy, here, is from Houston, so I don’t want to offend.
But, Texas seems to be a country unto itself. Their gun laws, alone, are crazy. I just read that it is perfectly legal there for a man to shoot and kill a prostitute who takes his money but doesn’t “deliver”.
A piece to the puzzle of Jimbo (Woody).
I have family in the Mt. Pleasant area. Titus and Grayson area. Whole crazy Taylor line went there back in the 1880’s.
As for the dog shootings, I made a new cop friend. He’s challenging the dog shootings in Texas from his home in Florida. The cop involved has already looked up and made public his information with veiled threats to burn down his house. I have such interesting friends on the dog side.
Is this a cop who doesn’t agree with the dog shootings and wants to stop it? He’s sticking his neck out, isn’t he?
He now has an internal investigation going on the department who leaked personal info and told him to back off before he finds his house burned down.
LOL. The police are wonderful aren’t they? It is said that the police are one step away from being criminals. They are the other side of the criminal coin.
Such is Texas and one of their forms of justice.
He’s also an ex-Marine so he isn’t afraid of sticking his neck out. Any more than I’m afraid of sticking my foot in my mouth at times 🙂
I think it all sounds good and I hope it spreads to other communities and to the UK as well.
As much as I talk to people about neutering their pets to stop the reproducing along with the health benefits, I am against mandatory spay neuter laws. Anyone else?
Please tell us why Cindy
What a wonderful loophole for cat-hoarders.
“Hey! All those cats are TNR cats! They’re not mine!”
Not to mention that TNR cat-hoarders don’t have their cats sterilized either. They just trap cats now and clip one ear with scissors to protect them from being euthanized by the state. I have absolute proof of this.
Do you really think everyone else is as stupid as you people? Responsible people will still have to destroy all your free-roaming cats for you.
You know me. I am an advocate of some legislation to force an improvement in cat ownership. It is needed because too many cat owners are not quite up to scratch and their irresponsibility dramatically affects cat welfare generally – unwanted cats being the biggest problem.
So bring it on I say. Forcing up standards of cat caretaking will also help to silence the cat haters like Woody.
I think Jimbo would hate cats even if every other person on earth loved them. Just a hunch.
Anyway, now that I know he fantacises over the idea of Jackson Galaxy being peed on it’s very hard to take him seriously. It was hard enough already but the whole ‘in the closet’ repressed homophobe thing is hard to ignore.
Regardless, the city of Waco seems to have the right idea. Clearly when you get a majority of animal lovers in government you also get the possibility of change for the better. Florida is close to having that majority I believe, with the governor, or the last governor trying to pass bills to help rescue orgaizations take in cats and dogs from the pound (‘shelter’) which is very hard because the pounds don’t want the animals to live so they just ,ake it hard to extract animals from their deadly grip so to speak. But the bill gets blocked each year because that majority doesn’t yet exist I presume.
One day it will be like Waco everywhere – so it should be – laws are needed to protect animals from humans.
You would have been shocked at his defamatory comment (perhaps not 😉 ) on the other Galaxy page. I had to delete it to protect the website. His bile leaks out of him.
Unfortunately people in general need a kick up the backside to improve standards of cat care. They only way is through legislation that is well enforced.
Exactly hopefully the tide is changing.
It sounds good to me. Our UK Cats Protection are trying to get compulsory neutering and micro chipping for all pet cats nationwide. It would solve a lot of unwanted kittens problems and also people kicking cats out, because they could be traced back to them.
As you say, irresponsible people will ensure the species don’t die out, so it’s all good really.
This is definitely a step in the right direction. I do think it will help — providing residents follow it!! Sounds VERY reasonable to me. . .