For starters, you should at least learn what your pet would be called in Spanish. Following is a list in Spanish of the names of some of the most common pet animals.
By the way, a pet in Spanish can be referred to as una mascota (the same word is used for a mascot, such as an animal symbolizing a team), un animal doméstico (the adjective doméstico can also be used to mean "pet" as an adjective, as in un perro doméstico, a pet dog) or un animal de compañía (again, the phrase de compañía can be appended to an animal's name to indicate it is a pet).
- Canary: el canario.
- Cat: el gato. Popular types include el bobtail, el gato de pelo largo (long-hair), el gato persa (Persian), el gato de pelo corto (short-hair) and el gato siamés (Siamese).
- Chinchilla: la chinchilla.
- Cockatoo: la cacatúa.
- Dog: el perro. Popular breeds include el dogo argentino (Argentine dogo), el basset (basset hound), el sabueso (bloodhound or beagle), el bóxer (boxer), el bulldog, el collie, el perro salchicha (dachshund), el dálmata (Dalmatian), el pastor alemán (German shepherd), el galgo/la galga (greyhound), el gran danés (great Dane), el perro esquimal (husky), el mastín (mastiff), el xoloitzcuintle (Mexican hairless), el caniche (poodle), el perro San Bernardo (St. Bernard) and el terrier. A mutt is un chucho.
- Fish: el pez. A tropical fish is un pez tropical.
- Frog: la rana.
- Gerbil: el jerbo, el gerbo.
- Guinea pig: la cobaya.
- Hamster: el hámster (usually pronounced as jámster would be; plural can be either hámsters or hámsteres).
- Horse: el caballo.
- Iguana: la iguana.
- Lizard: el lagarto, la lagartija.
- Mouse: el ratón.
- Parakeet: el perico.
- Parrot: el papagayo, el loro.
- Rabbit: el conejo.
- Rat: la rata.
- Salamander: la salamandra.
- Snake: la serpiente.
- Spider: la araña.
- Tortoise: la tortuga.
- Turtle: la tortuga.
