Pet Licensing?

As stated before, in PA you can get a lifetime license. The dogs have to either be tattoo'd or microchipped as a means of permanent identification. I think the price is around $50 for an intact animal, $30 for a sterilized animal, and they also give further discount to seniors. It's been a long time since I bought an individual tag, but I think they are around $6 for an altered animal. The rabies is not tied to rabies in any way in PA. Two totally separate things. The owner can be traced through the state records if the dog is picked up as a stray.

We have to keep copies of the rabies certif for appropriate govt entity - be it city, county or state. Never in 37 years has the govt asked for their copy. With computers, it's a very simple report to print out.

Our main problem is that licensing is a city thing. We have clients from at least 20 different cities, each with their own licensing. Having to purchase tags and licenses from every city would be a major pain.

Being on the state line between IL and IN, we have a number of clients who live in Cook county, IL and they have a county wide system. We buy special Illinois tags (includes the licensing for either 1 or 3 years depending on vaccine used) and the copy is sent to the Dept of Animal Control and they do keep track. We do a tack on fee in addition to the rabies vaccination cost and that covers the cost of the license.

Our dogs were not licensed once we left the house. We travel thru various cities, counties and states and it would be impossible to follow the regulations of each. We keep up with rabies and other vaccinations and carry proof of these. She has her 3 year rabies tag and when she is due for anything we will see a local vet wherever we are at. We also purchase heartworm and flea/tic medications from the local vet.

The pet fanciers license, it gives animal control the right to come to your house and inspect the animals. I asked and our town really has no one so why need it then?

Here's the dog cost for my town:
- Intact: $20
- Spayed/neutered: $12
- Kennel (4-10 dogs): $50

Uppercrust wrote:
Not sure we're our license fees go. They charge us $7 per pet plus an extra $20 for a pet fanciers license since I have 4 cats & 2 dogs. I would think with full timing no license needed, just rabies certificate, since home is we're you park it.

Ouch! Those do seem like pretty high fees!

I have lived in several states/towns that required pet licenses. Most fees were $2-4 per neutered/spayed animal, but intact animals were higher to license (~$10). I would think compliance to the licensing would be better if the fees were kept reasonable. But I also agree with the tactic of charging those with "too many" animals a higher fee, though I do not feel that 4 cats + 2 dogs is "too many"... Over 10 animals total (cats + dogs) is probably too many for the average owner, though.

With many municipalities performing licensing with a good-ole' carbon-copy paper pads and corresponding metal tags distributed at multiple vet clinics in the municipality, you DO have to wonder if it is an efficient system. Does a city employee *really* spend hours and hours transcribing that info into a searchable database? Especially since those pads might sit around the vet clinic for months, or even the entire year.... I know ours did. The city did not want them back until the end of the year. What is the point of the license then?

On the flip side, how successful would the program be if the municipality forced the fee and tag into the cost of every Rabies vaccine sold at clinics within their city limits? Would it cause a clinic to loose customers? Especially if they could just drive a few miles over to the next city/town/county and get the vaccine cheaper, without having to pay the fee??? And what about those clients that don't live in the city limits, would you then have to make sure they get charged a different fee? I would assume a license tag CAN be included into vet clinic software and then linked/uploaded via internet to the city's system (it was never done at any clinic I have worked at, but I seem to remember the software having the ability to do so). The State of Oklahoma has had something similar for years, which tracks sales of controlled substances via client driver's license number and DOB. AFAIK, it still has to be manually uploaded to their DEA each night at the close of business, but it is quick and works. Their system even recognizes incorrect info, and flags the clients account so that the clinic can attempt to collect correct info, vs. the state spending time/$ to track down the person.

Not sure we're our license fees go. They charge us $7 per pet plus an extra $20 for a pet fanciers license since I have 4 cats & 2 dogs. I would think with full timing no license needed, just rabies certificate, since home is we're you park it.

BIKERK9 wrote:
IMHO the city/county requirement for licensing dogs is a form of extortion.

Disagree....Our license fees help fund the local animal control services.
Pick up strays, protect "pets" from abuse, enforce rabbis vac. laws which benefit all of us, etc.

BIKERK9 wrote:
IMHO the city/county requirement for licensing dogs is a form of extortion.

NOT.

The only requirement for licensing in most municipalities is to have a Rabies vaccination. This is for the protection of PEOPLE. This is about the only way to get the population of dogs (and cats in some areas) vaccinated.

Look at the statistics for rabies deaths world wide and you'll see that the number of deaths in the US is really low compared to much of the rest of the world. When dealing with an endemic disease like rabies, immunization of a major percentage of the population is the only way of safeguarding us, let alone the dogs and cats.

Licensing is a different requirement in different areas. Some have state wide, county or city requirement. We, in Indiana, have a state requirement for rabies vaccination for both cats and dogs, but licensing is left to each city. People who live in an unincorporated area don't have the same licensing requirement.

Doug, DVM

I've never had a dog licensed in my life. Nowhere I've lived has required it. Here the requirement, if any, is local (city/county). Not state.