--- title: New York State Makes Tattoos and Piercings on Pets Illegal description: Offenders could face up to 15 days in jail or $250 in fines canonical: https://time.com/3635324/dogs-cats-tattoos-new-york-illegal/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-16T07:36:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:15:21.756Z og:title: No Tats for Cats og:description: Tattooing or piercing your pet in New York is now illegal. og:url: https://time.com/3635324/dogs-cats-tattoos-new-york-illegal/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt58430f96f521e25c/69876f0c0b72e3e2556dca4e/dog.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Puppy Dog og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: No Tats for Cats twitter:description: Tattooing or piercing your pet in New York is now illegal. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt58430f96f521e25c/69876f0c0b72e3e2556dca4e/dog.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # New York Makes Tattoos and Piercings on Pets Illegal by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Dec 16, 2014 7:36 AM UTC  Close up of dog's curious face Close up of dog's curious faceGetty Images by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Dec 16, 2014 7:36 AM UTC If you live in New York and were planning to get matching tattoos for you and your cat, [think again](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/2a0b8f7ccb994fcb840c8c6e5f16ebee/state-bans-cosmetic-pet-tattoos-piercings). Body art like tattoos and piercings on pet animals will soon be a crime across the state following a law passed on Monday, the Associated Press reported. Assembly member Linda Rosenthal sponsored the legislation, which was signed by the state’s Governor Andrew Cuomo and will take effect in 120 days. “It’s simply cruel,” said Rosenthal, adding that unlike humans, animals do not have the ability to choose the pain that comes with body art. The law does make exceptions for markings made for identification or medical reasons, but those only include preapproved letters and numbers. Other than that, the governor’s office says, piercing your pooch could now get you up to 15 days in jail or $250 in fines. \[[_AP_](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/2a0b8f7ccb994fcb840c8c6e5f16ebee/state-bans-cosmetic-pet-tattoos-piercings)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3635324/dogs-cats-tattoos-new-york-illegal/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3635324/dogs-cats-tattoos-new-york-illegal/"},"headline":"New York Makes Tattoos and Piercings on Pets Illegal","datePublished":"2014-12-16T07:36:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:15:21.756Z","description":"Offenders could face up to 15 days in jail or $250 in fines","url":"https://time.com/3635324/dogs-cats-tattoos-new-york-illegal/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","New York","Illegal","Law","tattoos","animal cruelty"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt58430f96f521e25c/69876f0c0b72e3e2556dca4e/dog.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt58430f96f521e25c/69876f0c0b72e3e2556dca4e/dog.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Puppy Dog","caption":"Puppy Dog","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3635324/dogs-cats-tattoos-new-york-illegal/","name":"New York Makes Tattoos and Piercings on Pets Illegal"}}]}] ```