Each pet boarding facility operator shall be responsible for all of the following:

(a) Ensuring that the entire pet boarding facility, including all equipment therein, is structurally sound and maintained in good repair.

Terms Used In California Health and Safety Code 122381

  • operator: means a person who owns or operates, or both, a pet boarding facility. See California Health and Safety Code 122380
  • Pet: means any nonhuman animal housed in the pet boarding facility, including, but not limited to, mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. See California Health and Safety Code 122380
  • Pet boarding facility: means any lot, building, structure, enclosure, or premises, or a portion thereof, whereupon four or more dogs, cats, or other pets in any combination are boarded at the request of, and in exchange for compensation provided by, their owner. See California Health and Safety Code 122380

(b) Ensuring that pests do not inhabit any part of the pet boarding facility in a number large enough to be harmful, threatening, or annoying to the pets.

(c) Ensuring the containment of pets within the pet boarding facility, and, in the event that a pet escapes, making reasonable efforts to immediately capture the escaped pet.

(d) If an escaped pet has not been captured despite reasonable efforts, ensuring that all material facts regarding the pet’s escape are reported to the local agency for animal control and to the owner.

(e) Ensuring that the pet boarding facility’s interior building surfaces, including walls and floors, are constructed in a manner that permits them to be readily cleaned and sanitized.

(f) Ensuring that light, by natural or artificial means, is distributed in a manner that permits routine inspection and cleaning, and the proper care and maintenance of the pets.

(g) If pet grooming services are offered by a pet boarding facility, separating the grooming work area from the pet boarding facility’s permanent or fixed and temporary enclosures and ensuring that the grooming areas are cleaned and sanitized at least once daily.

(h) Storing food in an area separate from permanent or fixed enclosures or temporary enclosures.

(i) Maintaining an area for isolating sick pets from healthy pets.

(Added by Stats. 2016, Ch. 364, Sec. 1. (SB 945) Effective January 1, 2017.)