That’s creepy about the cards; I would never sign something so stupid for someone’s pet, and would say something when I noticed that humans weren’t included.
“Mascotas” sounds about as Spanish as “internet”; I have to ask my sister-in-law (she’s Cuban, born there) about that. I’m sure the harder people’s lives were (anywhere in the world) will determine whether they have a word for “pet”.
Thanks!
In Spain, at least, people will often refer to a pet dog or cat as a “perrito” or “gatita,” that is, the dimunitive, while “perro” usually refers to a working dog or dogs in general, and “gato” (or gata) refers to feral cats or cats in general.
Nobody really uses mascota much in conversation (it’s more to describe something such as a law affecting pets, a product for pets, etc.), and I’m sure it’s a fairly new term.