Number of dogs in Spain 2010-2023

The popularity of dogs in Spain cannot be denied – the number of hounds has only increased in the last years, reaching figures of approximately 9.3 million in 2023. The number of stray and street dogs rescued on the Spanish streets also saw a considerable increase to over 183,000 in 2019. This figure dropped to 162,000 the following year.

Dogs: Spain’s favorite domestic animal

  Among the wide variety of animals kept as pets, cats and dogs are the most common. In Spain, dogs seem to be the most popular pet, with 27 percent of Spanish households owing at least one canine. The share of households that owned a cat amounted to 17 percent that year.

How about cats?

  Spanish homes had around 5.86 million pet cats in 2023, which is about half the number of that of dogs the same year. The number of rescued stray or street felines was also significantly lower compared to dogs, with approximately 124,000 cats collected from Spanish streets in 2020. The fate of rescued street and stray pets normally has a happy ending, with nearly half of them adopted by a new family and 18 percent returned to their original homes that year.