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There are around 150 million dogs and cats in the European Union. Attitudes towards these animals vary widely globally, although here in Europe, the basic concept of a pet may not differ so much from country to country, but there are significant differences worldwide. In my opinion, it was important to survey the social functions of owing a pet, because there is also a great variation from person to person in both attitudes and motivations of keeping dogs and cats. How animals are treated and the legislation background of this is also an important topic, and for this purpose I also studied the legal status of animals. It’s noteworthy that the European Union’s legislation on companion animals is incomplete, there is no specific legislation on how to keep dogs and cats. As a result, countries have their own legislation, which varies from country to country. However, the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals (1987) have been signed by a lot of countries, so that in many cases the relevant laws are similar in structure and in content. In my thesis, my aim was to compare the Hungarian legislation considering companion animal’s welfare with the legislation of other European countries. I have mainly focused on the differences and the cardinal animal welfare issues such as surgical operations, cruelty or the keeping of dangerous dogs.