Protectora Refuxio da Medela
Run by: Concello do Carballiño
No contact details published. It is on the map, but to get in touch you will have to look it up by name.
Adopt a cat in Ourense
We have 1 shelter and rescue located in Ourense, with what is known about each one: where it is, how to phone and its website. Below them, the cat associations in Galicia and the search sites for cats up for adoption.
Shelters and rescues in Ourense
Phone before you go: many only open by appointment and do not always have cats (in spring and summer, with the litters, they usually have many more). Those marked “Cats only” work exclusively with cats.
Locations come from OpenStreetMap, © its contributors, under the ODbL licence · downloaded on 23 September 2026. We have removed the pounds and shelters that only take in dogs, and the linked websites lead, where there is one, to their cat section. Phone numbers and websites that OSM does not have are taken from each organisation’s own website or from its town council’s, so if anything has changed, go by what their website says. Is one missing or is something wrong? “Suggest a correction” fixes it on the map, and it will show up here in the next update.
Cat associations in Galicia
They work only with cats, almost always through foster homes: their cats are socialised in a home, and they can tell you what each one is really like.
Search sites: start here
They bring together the listings of hundreds of rescues. Each link takes you straight to the cat section, where you can filter by province, age and sex. The sites are in Spanish, but your browser’s translate option copes well with the listings.
MiwukiThe longest-running adoption search site in Spain, with cats listed by province and town.
Bambú DifundeCats for adoption from rescues all over the country, with a page for each province.
Save One AnimalA national platform that brings together the listings of over a thousand organisations, with a filter for cats.
Dejan HuellaDetailed profiles of cats and dogs, with a section for each region.
Kiwoko AdoptaSearch across nearly five hundred partner rescues, many of them cat-only associations.
MundimascotaAdoption listings for cats and kittens, by province.
WallamascotasA noticeboard of cats for adoption from private owners and associations.Checked rescues in Galicia
Organisations in the region whose cat section we have checked one by one.
Cat colonies: your town council’s programme
Since Law 7/2023, cats that live on the street are “community cats”, and managing them is the town council’s job: a census, neutering (the TNR method: trap, neuter and return, known in Spain as CER) and authorised carers. If you have spotted a colony, want to look after one, or have found a kitten that cannot go back to the street, start here.
Other provinces in Galicia
Adopting a cat in Ourense: what is worth knowing
For several of them we have the location but not the full postal address, so the map is the most reliable way to find them. For most of them we do not have a direct phone number: you reach them through their website or through the town council. Hardly any of them publish fixed opening hours, and many cats live in foster homes rather than at the shelter, so phone or write before turning up. One is publicly owned, run by town councils, provincial or island councils or groups of municipalities: that is where the cats picked up from the street and the surrendered ones end up, and they tend to have more turnover than the associations.
The search sites on this page filter by Ourense and show the cats available right now, but not everything is there: kittens are what gets published most, and adults, seniors and cats with special needs rarely make the front page. If you are looking for one of those, writing directly to the rescue works much better than trawling through listings. And if you cannot find yours in Ourense, many associations in Galicia rehome to other provinces, with transport arranged between volunteers.
Before you adopt: what the law requires in Galicia
Spain’s animal welfare law, Law 7/2023, sets the common minimum for the whole country; each region also has its own law and register, and each town council its own bylaws.
The national law requires every cat to be identified with a microchip and neutered before six months of age, except those registered as breeding animals with a registered breeder (art. 26). It bans the sale of cats in pet shops: only registered breeders may sell them (art. 27), and it does not allow a pet to be left unsupervised for more than three days in a row. Public centres must hand animals over for adoption identified, with a contract, and neutered or with a commitment to have it done (art. 23). In Galicia, Law 4/2017 on the protection and welfare of companion animals also applies, and the microchip is recorded in the Galician Companion Animal Identification Register (REGIAC). The Galician law only applied to dogs and left the identification of other animals voluntary. Since Law 7/2023, microchipping cats is compulsory. Managed cat colonies. It provides for colonies with marking and neutering, registered in the name of the town council (art. 26). If the cat you adopt comes from a rescue, they or your vet will usually take care of transferring the microchip registration into your name. What each Spanish region requires (Spanish) →
Other sources
Third-party directories, in case you want to compare (in Spanish). These do take you away from Michipedia.
Every link in this guide was checked one by one on 17 October 2026, and the rescues were also checked
to confirm that they really have cats for adoption. They are external websites with no connection to this
project: rescues change websites and close down, so if you find a broken link, let us know. Always check
that the organisation is registered, and be wary of anyone who hands over a kitten without a contract,
without a microchip or “without papers” in exchange for money.