This is a video about cats stealing bits of pizza. It is quite funny, if that like this sort of video. What is interesting is that the comments are almost universally serious 😉 . Quite a few remark on the potentially toxic ingredients in pizza from the cat’s standpoint. Then there is the problem of a cat’s paws depositing bacteria on the pizza which is half-eaten. Will the person continue eating it and ingest bacteria? Some people believe that cats should not eat in close proximity to humans when they are eating for fear of disease transmission et cetera. Whereas others think people are being overly concerned when they are nervous about cats eating human food with their human caretaker.
A more rough and ready attitude is taken by an Eastern European who says she has always fed her cats human food and they have always lived to 15-years-of-age (unless killed in a car accident!).
Toxoplasmosis rears its ugly head again. One said there was a risk of the person being infected with toxoplasmosis. Someone noticed that the video maker in one section says “No” to their cat after he has let the cat grab the food! A bit late. He could have prevented it. He wouldn’t because he wanted to video the “theft”.
Here are extracts from a selection of comments:
- “I know this is really cute – but you have to remember that garlic (in the sauce) and onions (on the pie) are actually toxic to cats. it harms their kidneys.”
- “Seriously, don’t do that. I work with animals, and we get pets in all the time dying of things they should not eat. Some don’t die, they just suffer in pain, and cats are very good at hiding that pain. Please don’t do it.”
- “I suggest you stop them before you get a seriously ill cat. when they die this way it’s bad. i just held one that died of kidney failure the other day. it was not pretty. keep them away from things that can hurt them.”
- “Kinda disgusting if you think about it, most cats use the littler box and cover the “leavings” using their front paws…”
- “I didn’t see anyone taking the pizza from the kitties and eating it so not exactly disgusting…”
- “Why do people even have cats that close to where you are eating anyway…that is gross…you can get very ill from a cat scratch.”
- “To all, who did not enjoy it! It was for fun and I had a great laugh ! Coming from eastern country, we fed all animals with left overs.”
- “Perhaps you might want to investigate the effects of toxoplasmosis in humans from having dirty kitty claw germs around your eating areas. It can land you in ICU. not too cute for you.”
- “Letting get your food and then you say NO!! crazy people!”
(sigh) I hate when people go off the deep end, but this is important. I myself was pissed when I found out Gerber put onions in their baby food but didn’t list it on the label. But let’s be reasonable. I could proffer my own anecdotal experience but I hate when other people do that too. Now I am as careful as most to not let my cats anywhere near anything toxic – and I don’t add onions to my tomato sauces anymore because they love it. Sometimes they get a few licks in off a plate I’m done with, but I don’t sweat it and hear’s why: it’s accepted that .5% of a cat’s weight in onion matter is considered toxic, (VPI Pet Health Zone). So, say for a small cat (7 pounds or 3275 grams), he’d have to ingest over 15 grams (or half an ounce) of onion, (though 5 grams has been known) to cause “clinically important hematologic changes”. Over a hundred times that woud probably cause acute hemolytic anemia caused by thiosulphate in the onion… the red blood cells BURST (yeah, not good), but what small animal is going to eat over a pound of anything in one sitting, let alone an onion, which of course affects ALL organs and tissues in the body, not just the kidneys? Also small amounts could build up over time. But basically, if you suspect your cat will chow down a whole onion when your back is turned… don’t buy them. As for letting mine on my table, giving them some of my chicken, drinking out of the same glass (lactose-free milk) and playing with their paw-pads knowing full well they’ve been everywhere… try and stop me.
I’m like you Albert. There is a lot of common sense in what you state. We have to apply common sense and thoughtfulness to our cat caretaking rather than sticking dogmatically to rules which are not always correct.
This would never happen in my house. I may give my cat a small piece of chicken from my plate, but would never encourage or allow her to be on the table while I’m eating.
Also, I don’t leave food around to tempt her.
Monitoring what she eats is important because it can have serious consequences. I treat her the same as I would a small child, which entails supervision.
This action to allow the kitty free reign over it’s humans food is a bad idea and sends mixed messages to the cat.One or both mAy become ill, but the blame lays in the hands of the keeper. From what I know, felines can eat olives and white cheese. even so the vegs. may be laced with sauces toxic to them , one highly suspect is pepper in any form; and cheese is not lactose free. also_This pizza may contain imitation cheese?I clearly see this video was created in jest for the humans amusement.If the cat were starving ,he’d be on top of it by now.
ftnt: another good opportunity here is to point out once more what cats should not ingest.
Garlic can be toxic for them, but I find websites now and then which recommend they have powdered garlic sprinkled on their food to keep fleas off? Eva says
Eva, I agree that to give a cat free rein over human food to eat what he pleases is dangerous. There are too many unknown ingredients in processed human food. You just can’t take the risk. It is different for Eastern Europeans (an Eastern European made a comment saying she feed her cats human food all the time) because their food is less processed and more natural. It is therefore safer for cats.
A good point you inadvertently bring up is source of information. For at least 20 years I’ve voiced my own anger over what amounts to be folklore passed along from year to year as accepted common knowledge and or wisdom. From month to month, year to year I’d read tips and advice in Cat Fancy magazine on how to care for cats but it was the same stuff recycled over and over. I wish I’d saved some of those issues because most of it has been, shall we say, better info. One fallacy is that garlic is okay because fleas don’t like it, but that doesn’t mean an animal’s red blood cells are okay with it. I remember when garlic was recommended by my vet, but it has 5 to 10 times the amount of thiosulphate that onions have. It’s unbelievable that some people are stuck in the past, but having been there, I believe it. And they won’t pay the thousands of dollars it will take to save your pet from hemolytic anemia, if it’s not too late. It’s tragically funny, but 20 years ago the vet said “garlic to fight fleas” to which I said “I don’t think so!”. Today I brings stuff up to my vet and she says “we know now what we know now. What we’ll know in 20 years is what we’ll know then.” Speak for yourself I thought.
I mis-spoke. “most of it has been REPLACED BY, shall we say, better info.
Nice comment Albert. I agree.
Get a life!!! I thought it was amusing. Some cats will eat anything -it hardly ate any of it, it was just the thrill of catching it!!! As for the scratch – get a life…..