MAISON PAWZCATTERY
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Breeder regulation in the US stacks up on three levels — federal, state, and local/county — and each one sets its own trigger point for when you need a license. This chapter covers the federal framework in general, then gets specific about Bowie, Maryland, because that's where we actually operate. If you're breeding somewhere else, treat our local section as a template for what to go check, not as your answer.
The Animal Welfare Act, enforced by USDA APHIS, is generally aimed at commercial breeders selling through pet stores, brokers, or transactions where the buyer never meets the animal in person. Most hobby breeders who sell directly to the public and let buyers meet kittens before purchase fall under the hobby-breeder exemption — commonly framed around fewer than roughly four to five breeding females, under $500 in annual sales, and in-person transactions. Those thresholds get updated periodically, so confirm the current wording directly with USDA APHIS before you assume you're exempt, especially the moment you consider shipping a kitten unaccompanied.
On top of the federal floor, states and counties layer on their own rules, and those are usually triggered by how many intact animals live in the household rather than how much you sell. There's no single national standard here — what's actually legal depends on your specific address, which is exactly why "I read that breeders can have X cats" online is not a safe answer to lean on.
Contact your own city or county's animal control/animal services division and your state department of agriculture directly. Ask specifically: (1) is there a household pet-count limit before a permit is required, (2) does operating a cattery require a separate facility license beyond a pet license, and (3) are there state-level breeder licensing thresholds on top of local rules. Get the answer in writing or note who you spoke with and when.
Legal compliance is a floor, not a standard to aim for. As a CFA-registered cattery, we breed in line with CFA's own Breeder Code of Ethics, which every member breeder agrees to uphold. In our own words, its core commitments are:
Beyond CFA's code, a responsible program also means never restricting where an offspring's future litters can be sold once a cat has left your ownership, being honest in sale contracts about known hereditary risk in a line, offering to take back a cat you've bred if the owner can no longer keep it, and retiring breeding cats at a reasonable age — commonly by five years — rather than breeding them for as long as physically possible.