Trini Porta, a 52-year-old resident of Montoliu de Segarra, lives alone with a dog and two cats. Last January, she suddenly lost Cupi, a powerful dog she adopted from the Cervera pound ten years ago. An irreversible liver disease forced her to have him euthanized to prevent further suffering. The void he left is still raw. She doesn't hesitate to compare this loss to the loss of a person. "I've lost a member of my family, and many people don't understand that," Porta admits.

The group of veterinarians in the State has been expressing their discontent for weeks over the new regulation of medicines for animals. The protests coincide with the alarms raised over whether the royal decree that came into force at the beginning of the year, transposing a European directive, could cause pets to be left without the necessary medicines. A concern fuelled by the death of the dog Selva in A Coruña, who they say has been "the first victim" of the new regulations, designed with the aim of improving the control of these drugs, avoiding illnesses and minimising resistance to microorganisms.