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Papuchi is a nine-year-old dog with leishmaniasis. Amapola is a 12-year-old cat with one eye and mild ataxia. Both are waiting for a family at the Salvando Peludos shelter in the Madrid town of Villamanta, and both are what carers call “invisible animals”, pets that tend to go unnoticed by people thinking of adopting.

 

Their stories were shared on Tuesday October 20, when the shelter, currently home to nearly 240 dogs and cats, hosted the launch of a report called “My Story Continues with You”. It tracked the 2,500 animals listed on the Adopta con Tiendanimal platform during 2025 and found that cats made up 59% of adoptions and dogs 41%.

 

Tiendanimal’s marketing director, Caroline Arrú, said: “Spain has always been a dog country, but there’s a growing trend towards cats.” The report links the shift to modern lifestyles, especially in cities, where a cat’s independence and its ability to cope in small spaces can be a real advantage.

 

By region, Andalucía led the way with 43.15% of adoptions, ahead of the Community of Madrid on 15.09% and Catalonia on 8.23%.

 

Age makes a big difference too. Among dogs, 42.45% of those adopted were aged between one and three and 11.57% were puppies, while only 9.29% were seniors over eight. For cats, 49% were between six months and two years old and 46.27% were adults, with just 1.61% over 10.

 

Illness can also put people off. Fernando Sánchez, president of the Salvando Peludos Foundation, said of Papuchi: “Many people don’t adopt them because of this disease, even though they only need a daily pill.”

 

A separate Affinity Foundation study, “He Would Never Do That”, found that behaviour is the main reason animals stay in shelters, cited by 77.6% of organisations. It was followed by potentially dangerous breeds (68.2%), chronic illness (57.2%), large size (50.7%) and age (48%).

 

The same foundation has previously reported that only 21% of lost dogs are ever reunited with their families. For anyone who finds a dog on its own, we explained that a vet can check for a microchip, and that the Policía Local, Guardia Civil or Ayuntamiento can step in if there isn’t one.

 

Amapola was rescued from a person with Noah’s syndrome and had lived with more than 50 cats, so she finds it hard to trust others and needs a home without other felines. Shelter coordinator Katia Berazouskaya said: “She’s also twelve years old, missing an eye, and has mild ataxia, so it’s been very difficult to find a family to adopt her.”

 

 

 

 

Image: Andrew S/Unsplash