• Question: Is it fine to eat dogs and cats?

    Asked by to Claire, Ian, Sergey, Vicky, Zena on 24 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Claire Shooter

      Claire Shooter answered on 24 Jun 2014:

      It isn’t bad for your health if that’s what you mean.

      Morally a lot of people object to eating animals they consider to be intelligent – that includes whales, primates, and to an extent dogs and cats. Everyone’s opinion is different but I guess the general consensus is that if something is aware enough of the world around it to be scared and distressed in a situation where it is being farmed that’s unethical. Also, because these are animals that, like us, have some idea of empathy and build complex relationships people think it’s bad in a similar way to thinking that eating people is bad.

      Dogs and cats are actually quite interesting because they have very pronounced social intelligence compared to other animals with similar brains. This is likely to be because they have lived alongside humans for so long and evolved in a way that suited living with us. That’s why people consider them to be allies – animals we don’t hunt, but hunt with. I think maybe that is where the objection comes from – they’re our friends!

    • Photo: Sergey Lamzin

      Sergey Lamzin answered on 24 Jun 2014:

      There is nothing biologically wrong with it. Neither are toxic, though neither are particularly nutritious per kilogram of body weight.

      Wether you would actually want to eat them depends on your love for those particular animals, your hunger and wether you can actually catch them.
      In some countries dog is a delicacy.

      If you have watched Game of Thrones then Stannis ate the dogs and cats in Storm’s End when under seige.

    • Photo: Ian Simpson

      Ian Simpson answered on 25 Jun 2014:

      Excellent answer from Claire, I’d not really thought about it from that perspective. Dogs and Cats are fairly widely eaten in SE Asia and parts of Africa.

      There is also a religious aspect to this in that certain religions such as Judaism, and Islam prohibit the eating of cats and dogs and Buddhism prohibits the eating of dog meat.

      As with any meat you want to be sure of the supply chain and handling etc. to be happy that it is safe to eat whether or not it is right to eat. In principle there’s no reason why it couldn’t be eaten, but consumption of both cats and dogs is taboo in many countries irrespective of any religious reasons.

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