Cats in Istanbul - 10 Interesting Facts

Cats are everywhere in Istanbul. You see them stretched out on shop windowsills, curled on the seats of ferries, slipping between the legs of waiters in fish restaurants, and dozing in the courtyards of 500-year-old mosques. They are as much a part of the skyline as the domes and palaces. Turkish breeds of domestic cat are among the oldest in the world, and honestly, it is hard to picture this city without its furry residents. So here are ten things worth knowing about them, the famous ones and the everyday thousands, and how street cats actually live here.

A cat is “kedi” in Turkish, and you call one over with a soft “pisi pisi” rather than the “here kitty” you might use at home. Nobody knows the exact count, but estimates run into the hundreds of thousands, and as of 2026 some animal groups think the real figure is well past 250,000. These cats are neither wild nor anyone’s pets in the usual sense. They are independent inhabitants of the city, fed and watered by whole neighborhoods, free to come and go as they please. If you want the short version of why the city loves them, I have written more about that in why Istanbul is so famous for cats.

1. Why are there so many cats in Istanbul?

There are two answers, one practical and one spiritual. The practical one goes back centuries. As a port city, Istanbul has always had rats, and cats kept the rodent population in check long before anyone had a better idea. They earned their keep, and they still do. The spiritual reason comes from Islam, where cats are treated as clean, gentle animals. There is a well-known story about Muizza, the Prophet Muhammad’s favorite cat, who once chased a snake away from him. Rather than wake the cat sleeping on his robe, the Prophet is said to have cut off the sleeve before getting up. Cats were free to enter mosques, and that respect became part of the culture. Put the two together and you get a city that genuinely looks after its animals.

2. Gli, the cat of Hagia Sophia

The most famous cat this city ever produced was Gli. She was born in 2004 inside Hagia Sophia, raised by the museum’s archaeologists and restorers, and she lived there for 16 years. Visitors adored her green eyes and her habit of lounging exactly where she pleased. World figures met her, and there is a widely shared photo of former US President Barack Obama crouching down to stroke her during his 2009 visit. When she got tired of the attention she would settle on the omphalion, the marble circle where Byzantine emperors were once crowned, a spot tourists are not allowed to enter. She had her own page on the museum’s website and her own Instagram, @hagiasophiacat.

After Hagia Sophia became a working mosque again in 2020, Gli struggled with the change and the crowds. She was treated at a veterinary clinic and the staff decided not to return her to the building. She died later that year. If you visit Hagia Sophia today you will still spot cats drifting through, just none quite as legendary as her.

3. Tombili and his bronze statue

The other internet-famous Istanbul cat is Tombili, whose name roughly means “chubby”. A photo of him sitting on a sidewalk in Kadıköy with one paw propped lazily on the curb, looking like he owned the block, went viral years ago and spawned countless memes. He died in August 2016, and after an online petition gathered more than 16,000 signatures, the Kadıköy municipality unveiled a bronze statue of him in his exact lounging pose in the Ziverbey neighborhood on World Animal Day. Someone stole the statue weeks later, the whole city was furious, and it was recovered and reinstalled within days. You can still go and sit next to him today.

4. The monument to stray animals at Galata

At the foot of the Galata Tower there is a small sculpture of a cat and a dog asleep together on the pavement. It is easy to walk past, but it sums up the city’s whole attitude in one image. Street cats and dogs live alongside people here, not hidden away. Walk almost any street and you will find bowls of food and water left out on doorsteps and at the base of trees, refilled by whoever lives nearby.

5. Every cafe is basically a cat cafe

In most European cities a cafe with a resident cat is a novelty. In Istanbul it is the default. Cats wander into restaurants and coffee shops, claim a chair, and the staff just work around them. They are surprisingly polite about it and rarely beg from your plate. Plenty of places keep food out back for their regulars, and I have watched a waiter gently carry a sleeping cat outside at closing time rather than shoo it.

If you want a guaranteed cat fix, a few spots are known for their resident felines. Cafe Naftalin K in Balat has a vintage feel and cats roaming freely, and Elif Cafe inside the Arasta Bazaar in Sultanahmet is a reliable bet near the main sights. The trendy Cihangir neighborhood is full of cafes with a cat on the windowsill.

6. The 153 animal ambulance

Istanbul’s street animals have their own emergency line, and this is one of my favorite things about the city. The municipal hotline is 153, run through a service called Beyaz Masa (the “white desk”). If you find a cat or dog on the street with a hurt leg or any other problem, you can call 153 and an ambulance will come, collect the animal, treat it for free, and return it to roughly where it was found. The same service handles a lot more than animals, but for street cats it is a genuine safety net.

7. Free neutering, and the notch in the ear

Look closely at the cats around the old city and you will notice many of them have a small notch clipped from one ear. That is the sign the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has neutered, vaccinated and microchipped that cat, all free of charge, before returning it to its own neighborhood. This trap-neuter-vaccinate-return approach is why the cat population stays relatively stable and healthy, and it is held up internationally as a model that works. The clipped ear is not an injury, it is basically the cat’s paperwork.

8. Can you pet the cats in Turkey?

Often, yes, but read the cat first. Many street cats here are completely used to people and will walk straight up for a scratch behind the ears. Others want nothing to do with you, and you should let them be. Thanks to the municipal vaccination program, Istanbul has reported essentially no rabies cases in years, so the risk is low, but the sensible rules still apply: do not corner a cat, do not pick one up, and wash your hands afterward. If a cat ever scratches or bites you, get it checked. The rabies vaccine is free in Turkey. Locals themselves only really pet the friendly ones, and that is a good habit to copy.

9. The cats keep the rodents (and the peace)

This is the original job and they still do it. A city of more than 15 million people sitting on top of an old port has rats, and a healthy cat population is the oldest pest control there is. But the cats also do something less measurable. They lower the temperature of the place. Watch a stressed commuter stop to talk to a cat on a ferry railing, or a shopkeeper share his lunch with a regular, and you understand why people here call them part of the family rather than strays. Curious where they rank in the national imagination? I dug into that in the national animal of Turkey.

10. Where to find the most cats

If you are here specifically to meet cats, head for the old neighborhoods. The grounds of Topkapi Palace are full of them, lounging near the cafes and quiet courtyards. Kadıköy on the Asian side is famous for its cat culture, and so are Balat, Cihangir and the streets around the Spice Bazaar. Honestly, you will not need to look hard anywhere. The 2016 documentary “Kedi”, which followed seven Istanbul street cats, is still the best primer if you want to fall in love before you arrive.

The cats of Istanbul are not an attraction you queue for. They are simply part of how the city feels, sunbothered, well fed, and completely at home. Treat them with the same easy respect the locals do, and a few of them will treat you like an old friend.