Short answer. Twenty days. Article 716 of the Civil Code gives the owner of domesticated animals twenty days from the date of occupation by another person to claim them back. If the owner does not act within that period, ownership passes to the person who caught and kept them.
What the law says
The owner of domesticated animals may also claim them within twenty days to be counted from their occupation by another person. This period having expired, they shall pertain to him who has caught and kept them.
Civil Code, Article 716 — Bees And Domesticated Animals. Read the full provision →
The twenty-day reclaim window
Article 716 of the Civil Code provides: "The owner of domesticated animals may also claim them within twenty days to be counted from their occupation by another person. This period having expired, they shall pertain to him who has caught and kept them." The word occupation means the moment the other person takes possession of the animals — catches them, confines them, or otherwise begins keeping them. From that moment, the original owner has exactly twenty days to assert the right of recovery. Once that window closes, the law transfers ownership to the person who has been holding them.
What makes an animal domesticated for this rule
Article 716 draws a line between wild animals and domesticated ones. Wild animals, once they escape and regain their natural freedom, generally become ownerless and subject to first-capture rules. Domesticated animals are different: they retain their owner's mark or character, and the law treats them as property that has merely strayed rather than become res nullius. Carabaos, pigs, goats, chickens, dogs — animals habitually kept and tended under domestic conditions — would fall into this category. The twenty-day period reflects the law's recognition that a domesticated animal straying onto another's land does not automatically change ownership.
What the owner must do within the twenty days
The statute says the owner may "claim" the animals within twenty days. This requires an affirmative act — identifying yourself as the owner and demanding return of the animals. Passively knowing where they are while doing nothing does not preserve ownership. The claim may be made directly to the person holding the animals; if that person refuses, the owner would need to pursue the claim through appropriate means promptly enough to stay within the twenty-day window. Once the period expires, the law is clear: the animals belong to the person who caught and kept them, and the former owner has no further right.
Relationship to the rule on bees
Article 716 also governs bees, but on a different timeline. A swarm owner has the right to follow bees onto another's land and must indemnify the land possessor for any damage caused. If the swarm owner does not pursue the bees, or stops pursuing them within two consecutive days, the possessor of the land where they settled may occupy or retain them. The two-day rule for bees and the twenty-day rule for other domesticated animals reflect the practical difference between pursuing a mobile swarm and reclaiming animals that have been caught and are being held.