The Truth About Cats and Dogs

[DonRocks]

I just imagined it probably happens in Thailand (am I being superior here?) and decided it added a touch of authenticity.

No, it would only be authentic if the cat were being cooked.

Wah! Wah!

I'm sorry.

[zoramargolis]

No, it would only be authentic if the cat were being cooked.

Wah! Wah!

I'm sorry.

I met a Chinese cellist in Los Angeles. In China, he had eaten both cat and dog. Dog was delicious, he said. Cat, not so good.

[saf]

I understand cats (or any animals) in the kitchen are unacceptable for some people, but I just imagined it probably happens in Thailand (am I being superior here?) and decided it added a touch of authenticity.

Then again, I used to have a cat and it wandered in my kitchen all the time. FWIW.

I have a cat. Multiple cats. And yes, they come into the kitchen all the time.

No, I don't let them get on the counters or the table. Yes, I know some people are allergic and have to medicate before coming to my house. But I don't think the presence of a domestic animal makes a place automatically dirty.

[Sundae in the Park]

I have a cat. Multiple cats. And yes, they come into the kitchen all the time.

No, I don't let them get on the counters or the table. Yes, I know some people are allergic and have to medicate before coming to my house. But I don't think the presence of a domestic animal makes a place automatically dirty.

For some of us, pre-medicating is not enough, and accidentally wandering into a cat's habitat could result in a trip to the emergency room (severe allergies + asthma = bad). So, while the presence of animals doesn't make a place automatically dirty, it can make some of us very sick.

[sheldman]

For some of us, pre-medicating is not enough, and accidentally wandering into a cat's habitat could result in a trip to the emergency room (severe allergies + asthma = bad). So, while the presence of animals doesn't make a place automatically dirty, it can make some of us very sick.

Though I was trying unsuccessfully to be funny last night, I am in this same boat and to that extent was being serious - and am glad to have this website and this community to let me know about odd things like this.

[jasonc]

There were always cats in the restaurants in Shanghai. I fed this one, although that probably wasn't a good idea in hindsight.

(didn't reuse the chopsticks!)

[thetrain]

I understand cats (or any animals) in the kitchen are unacceptable for some people, but I just imagined it probably happens in Thailand (am I being superior here?) and decided it added a touch of authenticity.

When I pulled out my chair at a nice cafe in Thailand there was a little kitten on it. I put him in my lap and he stayed for the duration of my meal. Found out an hour later I am allergic to kittens, not cats, just kittens.

[Joe H]

I was seriously allergic to cats. I am talking hives, swollen this, perhaps a rash there...a bite, a scratch made a difference. Forty two years ago (I am real old!) I went bar hopping one night and instead of picking up a girl, found a kitten belly up next to the tire of my car. I told my roommate (then) that I was almost deathly allergic and he insisted we take him home-he would take care of the kitten and I didn't have to go near his room.

The cat slept in bed with me the first night.

I named him Pasha after the sweet, innocent boy in Dostoevsky's The Idiot. Today, I have never had children and he was my son. He lived for almost seventeen years. He is buried in Noah's Ark in Falls Church. Twenty four years later I still visit his grave.

I respect cultural differences and allergies, including my own-one of which I outgrew-but this is not a good topic for me.

[thistle]

You're lucky to have had such a true companion, my mom is also allergic to cats, but somehow has managed to acquire 3, she takes her shots, & enjoys their company...

[giant shrimp]

I was bitten by a cat at a really good restaurant in Tulum (at the German-owned hotel) -- outdoors, romantic with stars and the moon on a small bay. It was my fault for feeding it -- it would only accept lobster and was a bit overly enthusiastic about the piece I was holding out, and unintentionally caught my hand. I don't believe the skin was broken, but my wife is still waiting for the day I come down with rabies. Also in Tulum, the dining room floor at Ana y Jose's is sand, and when we were there two parrots were overhead on a perch. One night they started fighting over the swing. Feathers were certainly ruffled, until one of the birds went off in a huff back to the kitchen. In Mexico, dogs and cats seem to rely on the kindness of strangers for scraps of food.

A dog came to our table at an inn in Puerto Rico. After my wife made the mistake of feeding part of her egg sandwich to the appreciative beast (she is squeamish about eggs), it returned quite aggressively for more. I used a technique I had learned on the "Dog Whisperer" -- grabbing its hind quarters. The dog was visibly surprised, but it stopped and then retreated. Actually, it could have bitten me just as easily.

I am allergic to cats. We have been cat babysitters or weaners on and off for short periods of time (usually in violation of our lease). My eyes swell up and are glued shut when I wake up in the morning -- especially when the cat is dozing on top of my head. Not all of the cats have displayed impeccable deportment. One time we temporarily adopted a young black cat whose owner was afraid it would jump off her roof (over Benbow's Irish Pub on Connecticut Ave., a roof that no longer exists). Within a few days, it jumped out our window, through the screen. Fortunately, we lived on the first floor, but it was never seen again. It is difficult not forming an emotional attachment to cats even when they live with you for a fairly short period of time, and I would never (knowingly) eat one. The same goes for dogs.

I am no historian, but my guess is that much of the squirrel population in Paris was eaten during the war. I frequently run across deer in the woods, usually young. Sometimes instead of running off, they stop and stare soulfully, and I wonder if they can intuit that I think they taste good.

[Barbara]

I frequently run across deer in the woods, usually young. Sometimes instead of running off, they stop and stare soulfully, and I wonder if they can intuit that I think they taste good.

Since horror is on all our minds today, this part of your post reminded me of an incidence that occured on Columbia Road a few years ago. Those of us who live in the middle of the city sometimes forget just how close to Rock Creek Park we actually are. I was headed down the driveway of my aparment building one day, to attend to the triangle park in front of the building which is dedicated to a friend of mine, when I came face to face with a fawn, who had climbed up the slope along the side of my building facing Wyoming Avenue. I made the mistake of turning to alert the person on the Front Desk, and must have scared the poor beast with my waving arms. Before I knew it, the fawn had turned around and bolted across both 19th Street and Columbia Road and attempted to leap over a fence between two buildings on the opposite side. Unfortunately, that fence was one of those decorative wrought-iron things with pike tops. It impated itself on the fence and proceeded to let out the most awful screams.

This remains the only time in my 40 years of living in DC when I regretted our gun laws. Somebody needed to put that creature out of its misery post-haste and the only weapon at anybody's hand was a hammer. Which was used (not by me) by some gutsy men who knew the right thing to do. Such an enormously painful ordeal with no good outcome. And yes, Animal Control was called--but, as usual, they took their time in getting to the scene and I don't think they come prepared to shoot anything. And, the idea of venison never occurred to me at the time.

[giant shrimp]

Before I knew it, the fawn had turned around and bolted across both 19th Street and Columbia Road and attempted to leap over a fence between two buildings on the opposite side.

A sad story indeed, evidence of what a wild animal will do to escape from its inherent sense of becoming prey to humans. I say it is time to let the fawn go.

I would call Et Voila and ask them to let you know the next time they are planning to serve venison stew as a special. There is no better winter meal I can imagine. It is served with mashed potatoes that are perfectly balanced with butter to mix with a gravy that is deeply flavored without being too rich or cloying. And the meat itself -- fresh and no wild notes about it -- is tender enough to eat with a spoon. This is the best meat I have eaten in a long, long time. It is better than chicken liver.