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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to allow cat on table and kitchen surfaces?

80 replies

rubbersole · 20/04/2011 11:17

'Cause I do. He loves to sit on dining table and watch the garden. I'll lift him down, wipe the table and put on a cloth if we're going to eat at it (esp if we have company).

In the kitchen he hops onto one worktop to get onto the top of the fridge where he likes to sit. Again - I always wipe down any surface before food prep.

Neither me nor DH are ever ill, no dinner guests have ever reported being ill and house is clean and not smelly or hairy.
So what's the problem?

Last night a friend who was sitting in my dining room - not at the table and not eating - jumped up and swiped the cat onto the floor when he jumped onto the table.

I know this is how a lot of people react.

What are they scared off?

OP posts:
DontGoCurly · 20/04/2011 12:33

well if you don't mind yourself that's one thing but many visitors would mind and would not want to eat or drink anything in your house. They'd be secretly wincing and judging you!

The thing is you wipe when you see they've been there but will your kids do the same as they grow up? They just see cats on the counter as normal !

OldBagWantsNewBag · 20/04/2011 12:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PorkChopSter · 20/04/2011 12:39

It's minging, absolutely minging. You say you wipe - what happens to the cloth? Do you then use it to wipe other surfaces? Wash up?

I speak as someone who has a relative you does this. Uses the same cloth to wash up as she uses to wipe (occasionally - most of the time she just leaves shitty footprints all over the table & surfaces) So not only are you eating off dirty footprints, there's cat litter grit in your cuppa

BikeRunSki · 20/04/2011 12:41

I do. I hate it, but have been trying to stop him for 10 years and have given up trying now.

LOL at OldBag!

Original poster
rubbersole · 20/04/2011 12:41

Yep you're right - I grew up with cats on the counter, dogs by the range, horses at the window and chickens/lambs/cutebabyanimals always in kitchen. So I guess I learned it's ok (for me) but I also gathered that a bit of a wipe around food is safe practice and I'm a robust healthy (lucky so far?)36 yr old. Hopefully my kids - if they become lax cat owners - will also pick up the food/kitchen hygiene stuff.

OP posts:
unsurevalentine · 20/04/2011 12:43

I let my cat sleep in my bed but not on the table or the work sufaces - thats a bit Hmm

Quenelle · 20/04/2011 12:47

We never let our cat on the work surfaces or table. Some cats can be real thieves and will nick anything you leave out (meat defrosting etc), encouraging them to go on worktops isn't going to help.

It's up to you what you do in your house though.

However, if someone had 'swiped' my cat off the table, I would have swiped them.

northerngirl41 · 20/04/2011 12:56

I think it's one of those polite pretences - you're supposed to pretend that the cat never goes anywhere near the worktops to guests, so shooing them away with "Oh bad cat, down from there" etc. whilst knowing fine well they'll be up there in about 2 mins anyway the second your back is turned.

We maintain this facade with my MIL who is decidedly neat freak. The pets don't (as far as she knows...): sleep in our beds, sit on the work surfaces in the kitchen, jump up on random people, eat out of human bowls, lick the dishwasher, sleep next to the baby or lick our faces.

It's a social nicety - rather like not announcing your bathroom habits to the world at large (still trying to instill that one!).

NoHenIntended · 20/04/2011 13:38

I do find pet people very odd - surely there are better things to do in life than spend what adds up to WEEKS of your life clearing up after a cat/dog?

I do pity those weird saps who go walkies with their dog and have to carry a little plastic bag of poo around with them.

Just because a bit of cat hair or dog poo in my food isn't going to kill me or make me ill, doesn't mean it's pleasant.

I think some people care about hygiene, and some don't.

Pets indoors = skanky.

squeakytoy · 20/04/2011 13:48

I do pity those weird saps who go walkies with their dog and have to carry a little plastic bag of poo around with them

Hmm

Actually, I find people who enjoy the company of animals, particularly dogs, are much easier people to get on with, and a love of animals usually indicates a kind person. Grin

StealthyKissBeartrayal · 20/04/2011 13:49

I'd care more about the cat's food being on the table than the cat itself

LDNmummy · 20/04/2011 13:49

Yuck. I wouldn't eat in your house TBH. My mother does this and when I am over at her house I always have to point out to her cat hair that floats around and ends up getting on clean dishes if the cat jumps up by the sink. The hair could also get in your food [can mumsnet please make a vomit emoticon]. Cats tread in and touch all sorts of stuff no matter how clean an animal they are supposed to be. I love animals and have had cats of my own, but that is just a massive no no IMO.

mousesma · 20/04/2011 13:58

YANBU I dont "allow" my cat to go onto the worktop or kitchen table but he does it anyway. I spend half my life removing him from them and due to the layout of the house there is no way to remove access to the kitchen without removing access to the catflap and garden.

Like you I always wash the surfaces thoroughly before food prep and use chopping boards etc.

I think the people who would refuse to eat in a house like this are being insufferably precious. I do draw the line at cats on the table when we are actually eating though :)

zukiecat · 20/04/2011 14:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Jojay · 20/04/2011 14:06

Each to their own I guess, but I think it's pretty rank tbh.

I've had pets all my life and we have a cat now. He's allowed on beds but never on kitchen worktops or the dining table.

It hasn't been hard to train him not to. On the very odd occasion he's tried he's been clouted off pdq, and I don't leave food out or anything so there's no reason for him to go onto them.

Lovecat · 20/04/2011 14:10

psml @ all these people who believe they have 'trained' their cats... yeah, right!

Ours knew that they'd get short shrift if they tried to jump up on tables/work surfaces when we were around, and wouldn't bother you during a meal or the prep of it (although there'd generally be some 'where's mine?' faces going on beneath my feet if meat was on the menu), but I know damn well that they probably lounged around on any surface going when we were out (catflap in kitchen lobby). As evidenced by the scurrying of feet/flumping of cat to the kitchen floor when I turned the key in the door...

I alway wiped with dettol spray and kitchen paper. Never had any cat-related illnesses. OP, YANBU and if anyone tried to 'swipe' my cat I'd be having words!

Lovecat · 20/04/2011 14:12

xpost there - 'no reason'? hahahahaaaaaaaaaaaa! It's a cat! He doesn't need a reason (in fact the fact you don't allow him up there in your presence probably makes it more likely that he'll be up there the second your back is turned!) Hmm re clouting...

springbokdoc · 20/04/2011 14:16

I like northerngirl's suggestion - whenever someone is round, shoo them off. My indoor cat goes wherever - sunbathes on dining table and jumps up on counter by window to sunbathe there. We wipe before and after food prep and use chopping boards anyway.

I would have been bloody irritated at someone taking a swipe at my cat and my reaction to my friend who did that would be enough for them to start their own IABU thread.

NoHenIntended · 20/04/2011 15:01

"Actually, I find people who enjoy the company of animals, particularly dogs, are much easier people to get on with, and a love of animals usually indicates a kind person.".

squeakytoy, I have a love of animals - I just don't believe they should be indoors.
I am also kind enough not to eat them - that's how kind and lovely I am!

noddyholder · 20/04/2011 15:07

One of mine goes where he likes no matter what we say or do. I spend a lot of time with anti bac wipes

oldraver · 20/04/2011 15:08

I dont personally like cats on work surfaces or tables and they generally stick to this until my back is turned and I have left the butter out

They are both fed on the Utility draining board (used to be the female as she was bullied for her food by her brother). The DS came along and was way too interested in the cat food for my liking

winnybella · 20/04/2011 15:17

We eat off the plates, not off the table. Similarly, I use cutting boards etc for food preparation, not the worktop surface. All are wiped regularly, my cats don't care for worktops, but love our dining room table.

How would we get ill? Do you wash your hands each time after petting your cat (as they lick themselves you'll get some of that terrible bacteria on your hands)?

Massive overreaction, imho.

beaker25 · 20/04/2011 15:23

I have a indoor only cat who is allowed run of the house. She's incredibly timid and really wary of people so shooing her off things all the time seems pretty mean. She doesn't go on work surfaces much, just jumps on them on the way to somewhere else. In any case, since she lives indoors all the time she must get her germs all over the place anyway so it doesn't bother me much. I've lived with free range cats/ animals all my life and I do seem to have a much stronger stomach than a lot of people I know, who seem to get sick v often, not sure if the two are related!

I do make sure I'm really careful when preparing food for others, i.e anti bac wipes and stuff. But, if someone was going to be funny about it, they'd be best not coming round in the first place, there's a cat in the house, therefore there'll also be cat germs in the house!

If anyone shooed my cat off something in my presence I'd be really angry and probably kick them out tbh. She's so timid anyway, that would be enough to have her never go near a stranger again- not that she does much anyway!

stillstanding · 20/04/2011 15:25

Eeeergggh - very grim imo. Would really hate to see that. I can see that some people would be completely vigilant about anti-bacing after every climb up but my levels of hygiene are not up to that so it would be a hygiene issue in my house.

Winnybella, I am conscious of washing my hands after petting mine but obviously not all the time - definitely before I eat/cook though.

Don't like bags going on worktops for the same reason but I am pretty pants about not doing that.

winnybella · 20/04/2011 15:32

Well, yes, I always wash my hands before cooking/eating, cat or no cat.

Oooh, to gross you all out- DD, at around a year old, chewed on a hair ball-with bits of vomit around it- she was fine, though.

I just don't use worktops as people always put stuff on them (bags etc)- so cats wouldn't make any difference. Also they are made of wood, so I don't think it would be higenic or good for them to have food directly on their surface (stains etc)