One thing you must know about Morocco is the overabundance of street cats.  They're absolutely everywhere — the other day, a fellow Morocco blogger posted a jaunt around the medina of his city, including all of the cats he ran into.  In one photo, seven (yes, seven) cats wait outside the door of the public hammam (baths).  As funny as that is, it is not at all strange.

In my neighborhood, there are about eight cats that I see on a daily basis.  There's the fluffy but extremely dirty black and white cat that sits on the walls of the local cafe; there's Ninu, the cat all of the businesses in my building feed; there's the ginger cat who hisses at me.  Etc.

What is rare, however, is to see a kitten around.  As I'm sure you would know, a female cat would never just give birth on a sidewalk — rather, she'd seek out a clean(ish), dry, safe place and have her kittens there.  So you can imagine my surprise one evening when, upon arriving home with a friend, I found a practically microscopic white and brown kitten meowing outside my door.  She looked clean enough, and she stood right at my feet, looking up with her big, sad green eyes.

"Meow," she said to me.

I reached down to pick her up, assuming she'd run — in other words, I gave her the litmus test of Moroccan street cats (cats who live outside of butcher shops don't run; skinny cats and most female cats do).  She allowed me to scoop her up, even hug her to my chest.  "She's a keeper," my friend told me.

And so, LC (short for "Little Cat") came to live with us one January evening.  

Four months later, it was time to take her in for her shots — since we don't have a car, we borrowed a cat carrier from a Canadian friend, and my husband walked her over to the veterinarian.  Old men followed him, peering into the case; young kids squealed.  It is a rare sight indeed here in Morocco.

After LC had been given her shots, the vet informed my husband that she would require a photograph for her health card.  So, rather than go home, take a digital photo and have it printed, my husband decided to take LC to the same place we go when we need passport-sized photos — the professional photographer.

And so, this afternoon, I will be the happy owner of a set of prints of…my cat.

Anyone want a wallet-sized? 

Jillian York