# Eating cats, illegal? Immoral? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 28, 2010, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-cats-illegal-immoral/558629 "2010-10-28T06:10:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-cats-illegal-immoral/558629/21 "2010-10-28T14:52:18Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > I’ve heard that meat eating mammals are generally not eaten because the taste is bad. An acquaintance of mine claims that dog is quite tasty (whereas his Mandarin wife is of the opinion that only Cantonese and other lowlife eat dogs). ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-cats-illegal-immoral/558629/22 "2010-10-28T15:08:40Z")
ew, ew, ew, and did i mention ‘EW’??? :eek::eek::eek: ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-cats-illegal-immoral/558629/23 "2010-10-28T16:07:48Z")
As usual _[the Family Circus](http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/583/familycircus2172.jpg)_ has already covered this issue ---
**Author:** ![Minnie\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Minnie\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minnie_Luna)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-cats-illegal-immoral/558629/24 "2010-10-28T16:08:51Z")
I prefer to see it as a “cultural preference” rather than illegal or immoral. Some people find it revolting to eat pigs or cows and a lot of western culture doesn’t think twice about it. Isn’t horse meat big in other cultures as well? I have cats, I do rescue and love cats. I couldn’t knowingly do it, just as I couldn’t knowingly eat dog. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-cats-illegal-immoral/558629/25 "2010-10-28T16:16:45Z")
> [@Minnie\_Luna](#): > > I have cats, I do rescue and love cats. I couldn’t knowingly do it, just as I couldn’t knowingly eat dog. Well yeah, but a dog’s got personality. ---
**Author:** ![KinkiNipponTourist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9bcb4/32.png) [@KinkiNipponTourist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KinkiNipponTourist)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-cats-illegal-immoral/558629/26 "2010-10-28T16:28:23Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > It’ll work great as a pick up line: “Would you like to come to my place and eat some pussy?” Which girl wouldn’t fall for that?! The straight girl?😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-cats-illegal-immoral/558629/27 "2010-10-28T16:32:34Z")
I’m going on a limb here. No can come up with a statute in the western world that forbids eating cats. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-cats-illegal-immoral/558629/28 "2010-10-28T16:35:39Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > [Ask Mrs. Mooney.](http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/sweeneytodd/alittlepriest.htm) Isn’t it enough to make you sick? And I’m telling you - them pussycats is quick! ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-cats-illegal-immoral/558629/29 "2010-10-28T16:35:45Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > I’ve heard that meat eating mammals are generally not eaten because the taste is bad. I thought some settlers subsisted on bear and racoon meat? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-cats-illegal-immoral/558629/30 "2010-10-28T17:08:54Z")
> [@Waxwinged](#): > > Has anyone here ever tried cat, and what does it actually taste like? [Quite good](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/article7029058.ece), apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-cats-illegal-immoral/558629/31 "2010-10-28T17:23:47Z")
Quick research tells me that dog and cat meat can not be served in US restaurants as it is not USDA inspected. You can, however, slaughter your own animals (humanely) and eat them. Not sure how true all that is. Morality is another issue. Obviously, some morals vary from culture to culture. Personally, I have no problem with people eating cats. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-cats-illegal-immoral/558629/32 "2010-10-28T17:23:52Z")
> [@ColdPhoenix](#): > > My main problem with eating cat is the lack of meat on them. Given how little meat there is on rabbits, I’d agree with this. IMHO, cats are useful as rodent catchers, and rabbits are tasty vegetarian pests who eat your crops. As to whether or not it’s illegal, some US cities have laws prohibiting the consumption of domestic companion animals, but those are rare. There was a proposition on the ballot in California a few years ago that would have made it illegal to kill horses for meat. I don’t believe it passed. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-cats-illegal-immoral/558629/33 "2010-10-28T17:49:03Z")
It is a [misdemeanor](http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+3.2-6570) in Virginia to kill a cat for its hide. There are also prohibitions on “cruelly or unnecessarily” killing a “companion animal.” Conceivably a prospective ailurophage could thread a path through those statutes. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-cats-illegal-immoral/558629/34 "2010-10-28T18:04:01Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by Rune > I’ve heard that meat eating mammals are generally not eaten because the taste is bad. I have eaten bobcat spaghetti, it really wasn’t that bad but the sauce kind of took over the dish. I would equate it to ground turkey in that it just didn’t have a lot of flavor. I did notice that my GI tract wasn’t really used to that particular game animal. From what I know people don’t usually eat carnivores and omnivores because the risk of trichinosis. Though pigs garner most of the worry over trichinosis, it was mostly home raised pigs that were fed uncooked meat and meat scraps as feed that were the real problem. With the advent of large industrial pig farming trichinosis is largely gone from modern store bought pork. Of all the cases of trichinosis I have hear of in the last 10 years, one was a case from mountain lion meat and the rest were from bear meat. I have to believe that in my own experience bear meat would be a likely culprit because it is really tasty and resembles beef in that your inclination is to cook it on the rare side whereas it should always be cook well done. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-cats-illegal-immoral/558629/35 "2010-10-28T18:12:00Z")
> [@Minnie\_Luna](#): > > I prefer to see it as a “cultural preference” rather than illegal or immoral. Some people find it revolting to eat pigs or cows and a lot of western culture doesn’t think twice about it. Isn’t horse meat big in other cultures as well? My cousins in India reacted with absolute horror when I told I ate beef. Personally, I would be a little icked out by the idea of eating dog and cat. It’s purely cultural, as there isn’t any reason why cats at least should bother me. Dogs are faithful companions so there’s that but as far as I can see people own cats to be studiously ignored. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-cats-illegal-immoral/558629/36 "2010-10-28T18:13:59Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Comer conejo: to eat rabbbit (either kind) > > Comerle el conejo: to eat her rabbit (the slang kind) > > I did mention before that story of being in Brazil with people from half a dozen different Spanish dialects, and someone proposing the removal from the dictionary of any word with a “double meaning,” didn’t I? > > I made a sad face and said “but, that would mean never eating rabbit again! Well, no more meat and no more fish, actually, and I guess we’d have to ingest rather than eat, at least until ingesting got a double meaning that is…” - after some five minutes of tossing around green beans, asparagus, sausages, hot dogs, tacos, peanuts, eggs in any form, oysters, snails, conches, shrimp, and so forth, the Hispanics and Brazilians were out of breath and the USanians were requesting to be let in on the fun 🙂 For instance, in the Yucatan (a region in Mexico), by the same token you’d never again be able to eat cheese. (Or to talk about eating cheese, at least.) ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-cats-illegal-immoral/558629/37 "2010-10-29T02:49:47Z")
It appears to be legal in Rushville, Indiana, according to a district attorney there. [Weekly World News - Google Books](http://books.google.com/books?id=X_QDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA40&lpg=PA40&dq=rushville+%22ground+was+too+hard+to+bury+the+cats%22&source=bl&ots=FQUBJMUUGG&sig=_-VSl6cWxba7FVBqTvYJNXTtKME&hl=en&ei=hTXKTP28Is6onQfZlNHTDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=rushville%20%22ground%20was%20too%20hard%20to%20bury%20the%20cats%22&f=false) ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-cats-illegal-immoral/558629/38 "2010-10-29T07:40:48Z")
> [@Waxwinged](#): > > Has anyone here ever tried cat, and what does it actually taste like? According to a book I read, in WWII a Brit who was a prisoner of the Japanese, and wasn’t fed well, said anything that walked, crawled, hopped, or slithered, and they could catch, was on the menu. His comment was that (to the best of my memory, so this may not be an exact quote) “dog tastes like coarse beef, and cat tastes like rabbit, only better”. Can’t speak on either from personal experience, however. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-cats-illegal-immoral/558629/39 "2010-10-29T07:58:27Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > I’m going on a limb here. No can come up with a statute in the western world that forbids eating cats. There’s probably local statutes, here or there, but I doubt there is a state/province or national law anywhere that forbids it. I’m going out on (gnawing on (eewwww!)) a limb, here, too, so won’t be surprised if someone comes along and cites an actual statute in force, somewhere, to refute me. ---
**Author:** ![NJ\_Kef](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/258eb7/32.png) [@NJ\_Kef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NJ_Kef)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-cats-illegal-immoral/558629/40 "2010-10-29T17:03:00Z")
It’s totally legal on the planet Melmac. Or at least it was before Melmac blew up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-cats-illegal-immoral/558629.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-cats-illegal-immoral/558629.md?page=3)