Do you want to learn how to talk about your pets in Spanish? 🐈

Imagine you are in a Spanish-speaking country, and a friendly dog approaches you. Maybe you’d like to tell the owner how cute their pet is, ask about the dog’s name or age, and even share stories of your pets and their adventures. How do you start? Where do you start? Learn how to talk about pets in Spanish, build up your animal vocabulary in Spanish, and discover an easy and fun way of mixing Spanish into your day-to-day language.

How do you say pets in Spanish?

First things first: in Spanish, the most common word for “pet” is la mascota (pronounced mahs-KOH-tah), a feminine noun (notice the article la). Las mascotas is the plural for “pets.” Alternatively, you can also use el animal doméstico or el animal de compañía for “pet.” But generally speaking, go with la mascota, which is anyway the most popular term for “pet.” Just be mindful of the fact that Spanish has gendered nouns: feminine and masculine. Let’s take el perro pequeño as an example. Here, the article (la) and adjective (pequeño) are in agreement with the noun (perro): all masculine. This is called gender agreement.

Quick Spanish animal vocabulary to get you started:

• Tengo una mascota. (I have a pet.)
• ¿Tienes alguna mascota? (Do you have any pets?)
• Si, tengo un perro. (Yes, I have a dog.)
• ¿Cuál es tu animal favorito? (What’s your favorite animal?)
• Mi animal de compañía favorito es… (My favorite pet is…)

Learn how to talk about pets in Spanish

Spanish speakers like to express their affection, including for their pets, through diminutives. So for example instead of calling your dog merely perro, you can add -ito at the end and call him perrito. Or -ita if it’s a female dog: la perrita. The same goes for when you have a puppy or a little dog (perro pequeño). Just by adding -ito, you’re saying “little dog” rather than just “dog.” By the way, have you ever thought of teaching your perrito Spanish? It’s a win-win situation. Learn more here.

Find out below how to talk about your pets in Spanish. First, you’ll need to know the names of animals in Spanish (here we’ll briefly talk about popular dog breeds as well.) Then, how to describe your pets in Spanish. We’ll finish off with some popular Spanish phrases for animals, which will come in handy when that cute dog approaches you. You won’t have to shy away from making conversation or sharing stories of your mascotas.

Most common pet names in Spanish

Now that you know how to say “pet” in Spanish (el mascota), let’s move on to learning pet names in Spanish. From perro and gato to erizo and geco, here’s a list of the most common pets in Spanish:

Names of pets in English	Names of pets in Spanish (singular)	Names of pets in Spanish (plural)
Dog 🐶	El perro / La perra*	Los perros / Las perras
Cat 🐱	El gato / La gata	Los gatos / Las gatas
Canary	El canario	Los canarios
Parrot 🦜	El papagayo / El loro	Los papagayos / Los loros
Parakeet	El perico	Los pericos
Bird 🐦	El pájaro	Los pájaros
Hamster 🐹	El hámster	Los hámsters
Guinea pig	La/El cobaya** / El conejillo de indias	Las/Los cobayas / Los conejillos de indias
Hedgehog 🦔	El erizo / La eriza	Los erizos / Las erizas
Rabbit 🐇	El conejo	Los conejos
Horse 🐎	El caballo	Los caballos
Turtle 🐢	La tortuga	Las tortugas
Iguana	La iguana	Las iguanas
Lizard 🦎	El lagarto / La lagarta / La lagartija	Los lagartos / Las lagartas / Las lagartijas
Gecko	El geco	Los gecos
Snake 🐍	La serpiente	Las serpientes
Tropical fish 🐠	El pez tropical	Los peces tropicales
Goldfish	El pez dorado	Los peces dorados

Cat types and dog breeds in Spanish

Let’s have a quick look over popular cat types in Spanish:

• el gato persa (Persian)
• el gato siamés (Siamese)
• el gato de pelo largo (long-hair)
• el gato de pelo corto (short-hair)

As for popular dog breeds (by the way, raza de perro is dog breed in Spanish), check out this list:

• el perro San Bernardo (St. Bernard)
• el terrier, el terrier escocés (Scottish terrier)
• el collie
• el bulldog, el bulldog francés (French bulldog)
• el basset (basset hound)
• el doguillo (pug)
• el gran danés (great Dane)
• el dálmata (Dalmatian)
• el pastor alemán (German shepherd)
• el bóxer (boxer)
• el dogo argentino (Argentine dog)
• el chucho / el perro callejero / el perro criollo (mutt)

As you can see, hay muchas razas de perros diferentes (there are many different dog breeds). ¿Cuál es tu raza de perro favorita? (What’s your favorite dog breed?) Drop your answer in the comments. By the way, you can download and save the charts about dog breeds in Spanish and popular pet names in Spanish.

How to describe your pet in Spanish

When it comes to describing a pet in Spanish, we can cover different topics: from your pet’s attitude and behavior to your pet’s looks and characteristics. Before we get started though, learn how to use adjectives in Spanish. Here’s a quick refresher.

The importance of adjectives in Spanish

In Spanish, there’s this thing called noun-adjective agreement. In a nutshell, because adjectives have a gender and number in Spanish, they must agree with the nouns they refer to in both gender (feminine/masculine) and number (singular/plural). You can read more about the noun-adjective agreement here. What does this mean in practical terms? Let’s take el gato (cat) as an example, which is a singular masculine noun. In this case, “little cat” in Spanish can be both gato pequeño and gata pequeña, depending on your cat’s gender.

Tips for describing your pet in Spanish

Learn how to describe your pets (and other animals) in Spanish:

• adorable (adorable)
• amigable (friendly)
• noble (good, sweet)
• tierno (sweet)
• tímido (shy)
• inteligente (intelligent)
• juguetón (playful)
• fiel (faithful)
• entrenado (trained)
• gracioso / divertido (funny)
• hermoso (beautiful)
• cariñoso (loving)
• rápido (fast)
• lento (slow)
• silencioso (quiet)
• exótico (exotic)
• feroz (fierce)
• raro / extraño (weird)

You can also use colors to describe your pet. Here are some examples:

• Tengo un perro negro (I have a black dog)
• Tengo una gata naranaja (I have an orange cat)
• Tengo un hámster blanco (I have a white hamster)

What about physical characteristics? Your pet can be:

• chico/a, pequeño/a (small)
• mediano (medium)
• grande (large, big)
• peludo (furry, shaggy)
• el pelo (fur)
• los bigotes (whiskers)
• las orejas (ears)
• los dientes (teeth)
• los colmillos (fangs)
• la cola (tail)
• las patas (paws)
• las rayas (stripes)

Popular Spanish phrases about pets

Now that you know how to describe your pet in Spanish, have a look over these useful Spanish phrases:

• ¡El gato de mi amiga es adorable! (My friend’s cat is adorable!)
• Los hámsters son inteligentes. (Hamsters are smart. )
• Mi perrita es muy graciosa, siempre me hace reír. (My little dog is very funny, she always makes me laugh.)
• Mi canario es muy silencioso. (My canary is very quiet.)
• El loro de mi amigo es muy exótico, tiene colores brillantes y llamativos. (My friend’s parrot is very exotic, it has bright and striking colors.)
• Es muy gracioso cuando mi conejo salta en vez de caminar. (It’s so funny when my rabbit hops instead of walking.)
• Mi gato persa tiene garras enormes. (My Persian cat has huge claws.)

Have a conversation about pets in Spanish

Let’s get back to your encounter with the friendly dog. You know how to say pet in Spanish, how to talk about different cat types and dog breeds, how to describe an animal in Spanish, and overall built up your Spanish animal vocabulary. Next is having a conversation about pets in Spanish, which can go something like this:

• Desearía tener un erizo. ¿Tú tienes alguna mascota? (I wish I had a hedgehog. Do you have a pet?)
• ¿Cómo se llama? (What’s his/her name?) 
• ¿Cómo se llama tu mascota? (What’s your pet’s name?)
• Mi perro se llama Napoleon. (My dog’s name is Napoleon.)
• ¡Qué lindo / hermoso perro! or ¡Qué linda / hermosa perra! (What a cute dog!) 
• ¡Qué gato tan bonito! or ¡Qué gata tan bonita! (What a beautiful cat!)
• ¿Cuántos años tiene? (How old is he/she?) Mi perro tiene 8 meses. Es cachorro. (My dog is eight months old. He is a puppy.)
• ¿Puedo acariciar a tu perro? (Can I pet your dog?) ¿Puedo acariciar a tu gato? (Can I pet your cat?)
• Ven, te rasgo. / Te hago cariño. (Come here. I’ll pet you.)
• No le gusta eso. (He doesn’t like that.)
• Tiene miedo de todo. (He’s scared of everything.)
• ¿Muerde? No, no muerde. (Does he bite? No, he doesn’t bite.)

How to say pet in Spanish? Watch the video and learn more about animal vocabulary in Spanish:

Do you want to improve your Spanish skills? Book a free consultation and check out my other free Spanish resources. If you have any questions, please drop them in the comments. Thank you! 🫶