# Your cat has fatally stabbed your loaf of bread. Do you still eat it?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-cat-has-fatally-stabbed-your-loaf-of-bread-do-you-still-eat-it/363762
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [July 9, 2006, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-cat-has-fatally-stabbed-your-loaf-of-bread-do-you-still-eat-it/363762 "2006-07-09T17:38:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2006, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-cat-has-fatally-stabbed-your-loaf-of-bread-do-you-still-eat-it/363762/1 "2006-07-09T17:38:54Z")
I woke up this morning to find a loaf of bread laying on the floor in my living room. It was still wrapped but there are hundreds of little claw holes in it. Cursory inspection indicates that all the slices have holes in them. Some have tears rather than holes. That damn cat!
Should I eat this bread? Out of defiant hunger, I ate two of the slices. Am I going to die now? Would _you_ eat this bread? The bread is not that expensive; I can replace it easily. But that’s wasteful and sends the wrong message to my cat.
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### Author:  [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-cat-has-fatally-stabbed-your-loaf-of-bread-do-you-still-eat-it/363762/2 "2006-07-09T17:41:52Z")
I’d entertain notions of force feeding it to the cat.
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### Author:  [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2006, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-cat-has-fatally-stabbed-your-loaf-of-bread-do-you-still-eat-it/363762/3 "2006-07-09T17:43:31Z")
I would eat it, but then, I have little to no fear of germs. If it makes you feel better, I have a cat who likes to sneak up on me while I’m sleeping and jam his paw into my mouth. I have yet to get sick from it.
Your cat does not care about any message you try to send him, or lesson you try to teach. 🙂
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### Author:  [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-cat-has-fatally-stabbed-your-loaf-of-bread-do-you-still-eat-it/363762/4 "2006-07-09T18:11:58Z")
I wouldn’t eat it. As much as I’m not afraid of my kitty’s germs (I fill my water glass from the tap the cat drinks out of), he’s used those little paws in _the litter box_.
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### Author:  [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2006, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-cat-has-fatally-stabbed-your-loaf-of-bread-do-you-still-eat-it/363762/5 "2006-07-09T18:40:06Z")
If you don’t eat the bread, then the cats will have won.
Is this what we really want for the nation, people?
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### Author:  [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-cat-has-fatally-stabbed-your-loaf-of-bread-do-you-still-eat-it/363762/6 "2006-07-09T18:50:20Z")
What if you toast it or make grilled sammiches with it? Then the cat doesn’t win and you get the security of knowing you nuked whatever microscopic beasties might have been lurking about.
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### Author:  [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2006, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-cat-has-fatally-stabbed-your-loaf-of-bread-do-you-still-eat-it/363762/7 "2006-07-09T19:18:18Z")
I’d eat it.
But what did that bread DO to him?
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### Author:  [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2006, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-cat-has-fatally-stabbed-your-loaf-of-bread-do-you-still-eat-it/363762/8 "2006-07-09T19:22:12Z")
It would go in the bin. It’s cheap and the nearest shop is only a few minutes away.
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### Author:  [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2006, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-cat-has-fatally-stabbed-your-loaf-of-bread-do-you-still-eat-it/363762/9 "2006-07-09T19:30:38Z")
I would trim all the crusts and toss that, then I would put the remainder in a plastic container that the cat can’t chew through and eat the bread eventually. Or make croutons.
Then again that’s a lot of work so I’d probably throw it out.
I have known some cats that learn that food is kept in plastic bags and they will chew on anything in a plastic bag. My parents had a cat that chewed on every apple and potato in a big bag of apples/potatoes. Now how stupid is that? “Blech! This one tastes like a fruit/vegetable, too! Maybe if I try the next one? Blech! Maybe the next one? Blech! One of these has to taste like meat, I’ll try that one! Blech!”
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### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2006, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-cat-has-fatally-stabbed-your-loaf-of-bread-do-you-still-eat-it/363762/10 "2006-07-09T19:31:09Z")
> [@monstro](#):
>
> Cursory inspection indicates that all the slices have holes in them.
As a point of principle, I never eat bread with holes in it :dubious:
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### Author:  [@hawksgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawksgirl)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2006, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-cat-has-fatally-stabbed-your-loaf-of-bread-do-you-still-eat-it/363762/11 "2006-07-09T19:35:33Z")
I’d eat it, but then I’m a college student who will eat anything. Also, working at a vet hospital desensitized me to any fear of zoonoses whatsoever.
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2006, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-cat-has-fatally-stabbed-your-loaf-of-bread-do-you-still-eat-it/363762/12 "2006-07-09T19:48:56Z")
I wouldn’t eat it; ever hear of cat scratch disease/cat scratch fever ? If you can get it from a scratch, it’s quite possible you can get it from something that _has_ been scratched. Besides, it’s just a loaf of bread; buy a new one.
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### Author:  [@hawksgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawksgirl)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2006, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-cat-has-fatally-stabbed-your-loaf-of-bread-do-you-still-eat-it/363762/13 "2006-07-09T19:55:51Z")
I’m pretty sure that stomach acid would kill cat scratch fever. A scratch is different from eating something a claw touched.
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### Author:  [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2006, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-cat-has-fatally-stabbed-your-loaf-of-bread-do-you-still-eat-it/363762/14 "2006-07-09T20:05:11Z")
It might not be claw marks - maybe he was nibbling at it. My cat loves the taste of bread crust. If I buy a fresh loaf of French bread and leave it on the table, I’ll come back a second later when I hear crinkling, and find his little face smooshed into the open end of the bag, licking at the end of the baguette.
I have to hack off the bit he’s licked and give it to him, because I’m not going to eat that!
So yeah, I’d probably throw out the bread full of holes. Not that I’m actually worried about disease or anything, but just out of a general sense of “icky”.
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### Author:  [@mrald](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrald)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2006, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-cat-has-fatally-stabbed-your-loaf-of-bread-do-you-still-eat-it/363762/15 "2006-07-09T21:07:18Z")
Mash bread up (sans crust) add some water, make kitty a play toy out of the dead bread. Or shoes.
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### Author:  [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-cat-has-fatally-stabbed-your-loaf-of-bread-do-you-still-eat-it/363762/16 "2006-07-09T21:34:35Z")
I’d probably trash it and get a new loaf. **The Sausage Creature** had a cat when she still lived at home that got into a bag of rice and spread it all over the carpet when my vacuum cleaner was broken. ☹ I think that’s why his name was Spawn of Satan. 😃
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2006, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-cat-has-fatally-stabbed-your-loaf-of-bread-do-you-still-eat-it/363762/17 "2006-07-09T21:52:23Z")
> [@hawksgirl](#):
>
> I’m pretty sure that stomach acid would kill cat scratch fever. A scratch is different from eating something a claw touched.
Stomach acid doesn’t destroy _everything_; that’s one reason why rotten food makes us sick, as opposed to vultures, who have much stronger acid. Yes, it’s unlikely to be as dangerous as a scratch ( which isn’t all _that_ dangerous, anyway ), but why take the risk for a loaf of bread ?
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### Author:  [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-cat-has-fatally-stabbed-your-loaf-of-bread-do-you-still-eat-it/363762/18 "2006-07-09T22:03:03Z")
> [@Der Trihs](#):
>
> Stomach acid doesn’t destroy _everything_; that’s one reason why rotten food makes us sick, as opposed to vultures, who have much stronger acid. Yes, it’s unlikely to be as dangerous as a scratch ( which isn’t all _that_ dangerous, anyway ), but why take the risk for a loaf of bread ?
Cat scratch fever is transmitted through scratches and bites. You don’t get sick from that organism by eating it (that I’ve been able to find).
That said, yes, there are plenty of germs on a cat’s paw. But if you think about it, you are already exposed to those things every day just by living with the cat. Does your cat sit on your furniture, get into bed with you, cruise the counters? If so, you’ve probably ingested plenty of germs that came off of your cat’s paws. That’s why I doubt eating this bread is an unusually significant risk.
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### Author:  [@Dracona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dracona)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2006, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-cat-has-fatally-stabbed-your-loaf-of-bread-do-you-still-eat-it/363762/19 "2006-07-09T22:21:36Z")
I’d toss it (with extreme predjudice.) But then, I’m the only person I know who’s needed emergency surgery for an 8 fluid ounce deep neck abscess caused by kitty claw pathogens.
(I could poke half a q-tip into my neck for nearly 3 weeks after that.)
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### Author:  [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2006, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-cat-has-fatally-stabbed-your-loaf-of-bread-do-you-still-eat-it/363762/20 "2006-07-09T22:32:26Z")
make a sandwich out of the cat using the bread. It’s called tough love people.
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