Found a dog or a cat in Spain? What to do

1. Safety first

• If the animal is on a road or motorway and there is danger, do not put yourself at risk: call 112.
• Approach slowly, from the side, without staring and speaking softly. Let it sniff you before you touch it.
• If it growls, bares its teeth or is injured and scared, do not pick it up: it may bite out of pain or fear. Call the Local Police and stay nearby to see where it goes.
• If it is injured, take it (or ask someone to take it) to an emergency vet.

2. Check for ID

• Tag with a phone number: call it.
• Placa Mizuu (NFC and QR): tap the tag with your phone or scan the QR code. The pet’s profile opens without installing anything, and you can alert its family and send your location. What the Mizuu tag is.
• Mizuu passport code: if you see a code (RR-… or MZ-…), you can look it up at mizuu.pet/pasaporte.

3. Have the microchip read

Dogs, cats and ferrets must be microchipped in Spain (Law 7/2023, art. 51.2). The chip has no GPS and shows no details: just a number read with a scanner. So the animal needs to go to a vet clinic or the Local Police, who have a scanner and access to the registries to find the owner. Many vets do this free of charge; call ahead if you can.

If the chip is not registered or the details are out of date, the vet or the police will tell you what to do next. If the animal has no chip, still tell the town council (step 5).

4. Meanwhile: water, a little food and calm

• Offer fresh water.
• If you feed it, give a small amount and no leftovers: chocolate, grapes, onion, garlic or cooked bones are dangerous. Toxic foods and products.
• Do not give cow’s milk: many dogs and cats do not tolerate it.
• If you take it home while you sort things out, keep it apart from your own pets: you do not know whether it is vaccinated or ill.

5. If you cannot find its family, tell the town council

Law 7/2023, art. 22 makes town councils responsible for collecting lost and abandoned animals, with a 24-hour emergency service. Call the Local Police (or the council) and tell them where and when you found it. If you offer to keep it at home until its family turns up, ask them how to record that.

At the same time, check whether someone is looking for it: see Mizuu’s lost-pets board (in the app, the emergency button → I found an animal shows lost-pet alerts near you), neighbourhood groups and local rescue groups and vets. A "Found" poster with a photo, the area and a phone number also helps (leave out some details so you can check that whoever calls really is the owner).

What the law says: can I keep it?

• You must return it: "Whoever finds a lost animal must return it to its owner or to the person responsible for its care, if they know who they are" (Civil Code, art. 611.1, our translation).
• Exception for mistreatment: if there are well-founded signs of mistreatment or abandonment, you do not have to return it, but you must report it to the authorities immediately (art. 611.2).
• Costs: if you have looked after it, you can claim from the owner the costs of treatment, care and returning it (art. 611.3).
• Keeping it without telling anyone does not make you the owner: the microchip stays in the owner’s name, and only animals without an owner can be acquired by occupation (art. 610). If nobody claims it within the deadline set by the region, the animal is treated as abandoned and can be adopted through official channels (municipal centre or rescue group), and then you can apply to adopt it.

If it is a cat: lost or a street cat?

• A cat outdoors is not always lost: it may live in a managed feral cat colony (many have a small straight cut on the tip of one ear, a sign that they have been neutered) or be a pet cat that goes outside and comes home.
• If it is friendly, clean, comes up to you and meows for attention, it may be a lost pet: have the microchip read.
• If it is wary and healthy, it is probably a street cat: do not remove it; if you are worried, tell the town council or a rescue group.
• If you find kittens on their own, do not pick them up straight away: the mother is usually nearby looking for food. Watch from a distance for a few hours, unless they are in danger.