Adopting a cat in Spain: how it works, step by step
Every spring Spanish shelters fill up with kittens, and all year round with adults waiting for a home. Adopting is the most sensible way to get a cat, but it has its steps and its questions. This is how it works, and how to get it right.
Why so many cats are waiting
Female cats are extraordinarily fertile: a female can have her first heat before six months and two or three litters a year. A few unspayed females in a neighbourhood or a colony are enough for dozens of kittens to appear every spring. On top of that come abandoned adult cats: house moves, allergies, a baby on the way, or simply the kitten grew up. The result is that in Spain rescues, foster homes and municipal centres have cats up for adoption all year round, and kittens are adopted far sooner than adults, black cats or older cats. Adopting does not only give you a cat: it frees up a place for the next one.
Where to look
There are three main routes. Rescues and associations, many of them without a physical shelter, which work with foster homes: the cat lives in a private home until it is adopted, and the foster carer knows it very well. Municipal animal protection centres, which take in lost or abandoned animals and also rehome them. And the associations that manage feral cat colonies, which sometimes have kittens or friendly cats rescued from the street. Look for one nearby, so you can meet the cat first and so the rescue can follow up afterwards. Be wary of anyone offering to deliver a cat from hundreds of kilometres away without you having seen it.
The questionnaire and the interview
Almost all reputable rescues ask you to fill in a questionnaire: where you live, whether you own or rent and whether the tenancy allows pets, whether there are other animals or children, how many hours you are out, whether your balconies or windows have netting, whether the cat will go outside. It is not an exam or needless mistrust: they want to make sure the cat does not come back. Many then hold an interview or a home visit, and some ask you to fit netting before the handover. That is a good sign: a rescue that hands you a cat without asking anything is a rescue that is not doing its job properly. Be honest about your life; their help in getting it right is exactly what you want.
What it costs and what is included
The adoption fee for a cat is usually €50 to €150, depending on the rescue and the cat's age; some reduce it for adults and seniors. In return, the cat comes with a registered microchip, up-to-date vaccines, internal and external parasite treatment, FeLV and FIV tests and, if it is old enough, neutered. If it is a kitten too young for surgery, you sign a commitment to have it neutered, and the rescue often does it for you or refers you to a partner clinic. Paying for all of that yourself would cost well over double. The fee is not a price for the cat: it covers part of what the rescue spent on it.
The adoption contract
When you adopt, you sign a contract that makes you responsible for the cat, in which you commit to things such as looking after it, giving it veterinary care, neutering it if it is not already, not passing it on to anyone else and returning it to the rescue if one day you cannot keep it, rather than abandoning it or giving it away. Many include a follow-up: they ask for photos or call you after a few weeks. Read it calmly before signing. Along with the contract comes the transfer of the microchip to your name on your region's register: check that it is done, because that makes it your cat in legal terms and it is what brings it home if it gets lost.
How to choose the cat
Not by the photo. Tell the rescue what you are looking for and what you can offer: whether you live in a small flat, whether there are children or a dog, whether you want a cuddly cat or an independent one, whether you are out for long hours. They know their cats and will suggest the ones that fit, even if they are not the ones you had spotted. Ask about its character, about living with other animals, about how it copes with handling, the carrier and the vet, and about its health. Go and meet it, and if it is shy, do not rule it out straight away: a cat that hides in a foster home with ten other cats may turn out very affectionate in a quiet home. The foster carer will tell you.
The FeLV and FIV tests
Before adopting, ask whether the cat has been tested for feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), two viruses passed between cats that have no cure. A positive test is not a death sentence: many cats with FIV live for years with a good quality of life, and there are rescues that specialise in rehoming them. But it does change things: ideally they should live indoors and, if there are other cats at home, those should have the same status or the vet should assess the risk. In very young kittens the test may need repeating a few months later. What matters is knowing and deciding with the full information, not finding out later.
Your home, before it arrives
Set up a quiet room with a litter tray, water, food, a bed, a hiding place and a scratching post, where the cat can spend the first few days. Fit netting on balconies and windows beforehand, not afterwards. Remove toxic plants, especially lilies, and put away thread, hair ties and medicines. Have a vet already chosen and book a check-up in the first few weeks, even if the cat has already been examined: it is how the vet gets to know it and how you start a medical record. And ask the rescue which food and litter it uses: sticking with them at first avoids diarrhoea and litter tray refusals.
If you cannot adopt, other ways to help
If now is not the right time to have a cat, you can still do a great deal. Fostering is the most valuable help of all: you have the cat for a few weeks or months, the rescue pays the vet bills, and you free up a place. You can sponsor a cat with a monthly payment, become a member, donate food and litter, or help with transport or spreading the word. And if you know of a feral colony in your neighbourhood, working with the association that manages it on neutering campaigns does more against abandonment than almost anything else.
Look for a rescue near you, be honest about your life in the questionnaire and let them recommend the cat that fits. For €50 to €150 in Spain it comes microchipped, vaccinated, tested and, if old enough, neutered. Check that the chip is transferred to your name and fit netting before it arrives.
Educational content from Michipedia, translated from the Spanish original. It does not replace the advice of a vet or a feline behaviour specialist. Every cat is an individual.