Why do cats outnumber dogs in these cities?
The short answer
Cats are considered ritually clean in Islam and have been tolerated in Moroccan cities for centuries. They control the medina's rodent population and move freely through homes, shops, and mosques. A 2025 draft law (19.25) would criminalize feeding strays in public — controversial and still under parliamentary review.
The cat is sitting on your breakfast table. Not begging — just sitting, watching you butter your msemen as though evaluating your technique. The riad owner sees it and does nothing.
Cats move through Marrakech like they own it — and in practical terms, they do. They enter riads, restaurants, shops, and mosques without resistance. They sleep in doorways, stalk across rooftops, and appear on your terrace at mealtimes with the confidence of someone who has been fed here before. The medina has hundreds of thousands of them. Nobody counts precisely. Nobody needs to.
The cultural tolerance runs deep. In Islamic tradition, cats are considered ritually clean — they can be present during prayer, they can drink from the same water you use for ablution. Dogs, by contrast, are considered ritually impure in many schools of jurisprudence. The result, compounded over centuries, is a city that accommodates cats and discourages dogs within its walls.
But tolerance is not the same as protection. In 2025, the Moroccan government approved Draft Law 19.25, which would make it illegal to feed, shelter, or care for stray animals in public spaces — fines of 1,500 to 3,000 dirhams. The law, still under parliamentary review, is tied to preparations for the 2030 World Cup and targets dogs primarily, but the language covers cats too. Animal welfare organizations have condemned it. The cultural practice of leaving food out for street cats — something Moroccans have done for generations — could technically become a criminal act.
The cats earn their keep regardless of the law. Medina architecture — open drains, food storage at ground level, dense construction — would be overrun with rodents without a predator class. Cats control rat and mouse populations more effectively than any municipal program could. The relationship is not sentimental. It's infrastructural. Remove the cats and the rats inherit the medina.
Dogs exist in Morocco — outside the medina walls, in the Ville Nouvelle, in rural areas where they guard livestock and property. But inside the medina, the cat is the dominant animal, and it has been since the city was founded. Whether the law changes that remains to be seen. The cats, for their part, seem unconcerned.