Pet vaccination rules for boarding & grooming in Texas

Texas rules we’ve verified

Vaccination mandate. Texas requires owners to have dogs and cats vaccinated against rabies by four months of age; failure is a Class C misdemeanor. [Tex. Health & Safety Code §§ 826.021–.022 — verified August 31, 2026]

Chapter 826 places no statewide duties on boarding/daycare/grooming facilities; counties and cities run their own rabies-control programs and may be stricter (§§ 826.014–.015) — check locally.

Houston. If you board dogs in Houston you need a commercial pet service facility licence from BARC; the fee runs by calendar year and is due on or before 1 January. BARC’s licensing guidelines require every dog owned or maintained at the facility to be currently vaccinated against rabies, with written proof producible at the time of inspection, and the city mails renewal invoices 30 to 45 days before the 31 December expiry. [Houston Code of Ordinances § 6-121; BARC licence applicant guidelines]

Citations checked against primary sources on August 31, 2026. Laws change — verify anything you rely on with the authority itself.

What facilities in Texas commonly require

Separately from any law, most grooming salons, daycares and boarding kennels set their own admission policy — and it is usually stricter than the legal minimum, because one sick dog can close a playroom for a week. Typical policies ask for:

Dogs: current rabies, DHPP (distemper–parvo combination), and bordetella (kennel cough) — with bordetella most strictly enforced by boarding and daycare, where dogs share air. Some facilities also ask for leptospirosis or canine influenza in areas that have seen outbreaks. Cats: current rabies and FVRCP.

Bring the certificate your veterinarian issued — the facility needs the expiry date printed on it, not just proof a shot happened. Some owners carry titer (antibody test) results instead of a booster; whether a facility accepts titers is that facility’s call, and many don’t for rabies.

Running a pet-care business in Texas?

Whatever your policy is, the hard part is keeping proof of it current for every pet without chasing paper. VaxCheck gives you a QR code for the counter: owners type their own dates and photograph the certificate, your staff verifies once, owners get automatic reminders before anything expires, and check-in becomes a red / amber / green list. You can set the exact vaccines your policy requires, and it flags any pet missing one.

Pet owner in Texas?

Keep every certificate in one place, get told before anything expires, and hand a copy to any groomer, daycare, kennel or sitter who asks — including one that has never heard of VaxCheck. They open a link, print what they need, and create nothing. Free, and there is no password to lose.

What a shop will ask you for, and how to have it ready · See your pet’s records