To think this is disgusting?

[CactusFred]

Last night I went to my friend's for dinner. I go every few weeks and we cook 'healthy' together rather than waste money on takeaway etc.

She's single with no kids and I'm married with one DC so I always go to hers for ease.

Anyway. She gets the stuff out of the fridge and puts it in the counter and says you chop and I'll start this.

There's a dog bowl on the chopping board. It has the remnants of dogs' meal in it. So I say I'll just wash the chopping board first.

She looks at me all confused and asks why. There's a dog bowl on it I say. She says it's clean. I say it's used! She then starts in about how her floor is spotless and 'not being funny' but her house is cleaner than mine, I have two cats and they probably go on counter etc.

They don't go on counter but I always use a clean chopping board anyway.

She throws the chopping board in the sink and washes it in a huff and it's really tense all evening. I tried to pretend it didn't happen but was gagging at food as if she preps food by dog bowl and thinks that's fine what else does she do?!

I'm also fuming about her saying her house is cleaner! I mean it is - on the surface at least - as her house is like show home but mine as hardly a pit!

AIBU to think prepping food next to dog bowl is disgusting?

[SuburbanRhonda]

You have cat cams that cover every counter in your kitchen? And you know the cats don't go on the counter because presumably you watch back the whole day's video every night?

Of course you do.

[GinIsIn]

You sound like you were a bit silly and dramatic about the whole thing. I suspect that is what has offended her.

[Nocabbageinmyeye]

It's manky and anyone who says otherwise is either a dog owner who is blind to the dirt of animals or just minging. I wish people would stop saying it's just dog food, you wouldn't put anything that was on the floor on the chopping board, why would you? You just stick in the sink/training board and clean it after. And it's not a case of being a germofobe it's just basic hygiene. Op yanbu and your friend over reacted

[Niskayuna]

Lately MN has been quite 50/50 on matters of hygiene. I'm expecting another 50/50 thread of people who clean, and people who lick the dog food spoon ;)

I am in the camp that as much as I like dogs, I do not share my food prep surfaces with them. She was unreasonable, both for putting dog food things near the human prep area, being offended when you pointed it out and then compounding it with an attack on you. She lashed out because she knew she was wrong, and grubby.

[paddypants13]

I don't like eating at my aunt's house because I saw her wash up her cats bowl using the same cloth as she washed up the human stuff.

I have a cat but I wash her bowl up at the end when all the other washing up is done and I use a different cloth.

Ywnbu.

[GahBuggerit]

people dont feed their dog right in the middle of the floor. usually bowls are kept around the edges of the floor near a wall or unit

unless her friend does a Bond and slithers along the walls when she goes into her kitchen, and her home is spotless, its very unlikely that the bottom of the bowl picks up any more germs from friends shoes etc than the op will have literally everywhere in her home due to the kids. if anything ops home will have way more.

anyway that point is moot as the op clearly states that the issue is with prepping the food near the dog bowl, which is rather precious given there is no risk of the remains moving of their own accord

[Fishcakey]

I love my dogs but they are the reason my kitchen floor is not clean. They walk in their own shit!!!!! Never would a dog bowl go on my chopping board!!!!!!!

[CactusFred]

Wow. I'm pleased not everyone thinks I'm unreasonable and can see the point of view of everyone else.

That said I still think it's disgusting. Nothing to do with the contents of the bowl food wise but doggy saliva on sides of bowls and floor on bottom of it. Yuck.

(If her house appears spotless yet she does something like this then I wonder if it's just appearances as places can look clean but still be germ ridden.)

Cats on own work surface irrelevant of whether I can be sure they don't go on there because I clean where am going to prep food anyway beforehand.

Seeing said friend tonight for someone's birthday meal (in a restaurant!) so will apologise for any offence.

[Eolian]

Hmm. My dog licks me on the face sometimes, so dog saliva doesn't really bother me. I realise it's not everyone's cup of tea though .

Tbh I wouldn't have put the dog bowl on the chopping board in the first place, but I wouldn't have been particularly bothered if someone had. It's the extreme reactions I find so odd really. The number of people on MN who seem to spend half their lives retching and being 'literally' sick at the sight of things never fails to astonish me.

[ScarletForYa]

Dog bowl= worms
Cat bowl= worms

Dogs licking your face, you have worms.

Even if you worm the animal, i still think they gave worms. Worms and fleas. That's what pets have. There are no 'clean dogs'.

Pets equipment should never enter a human kitchen or be cross contaminated with human food or utensils.

Use disposable gloves, an outdoor tap and dry with kitchen roll, dispose of that directly to outdoor bin.

Just a bit of common sense.

Yanbu OP.

[Eolian]

Odd that I've never had worms then.

[LostSight]

To get worms from a dog, you would have to eat dog poo that had been produced, then left to lie for several days.

That said, I don't think the OP was unreasonable to want to wash the board. Chances are, she'd have been fine, but it's still unecessarily grim.

[ScarletForYa]

I think it's easier than that to catch worms LostSight

Worm eggs live on pets tongues, dog licks arse, dog licks human, human gets worms.

www.petful.com/pet-health/can-humans-get-worms-from-dogs/

[BettyBB2]

YANBU but sounds like she was pretty embarrassed and you both gave each other a bit of stick for a very minor incident! A small apology along the lines of "I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable about the dog bowl on the chopping board, I hope we can still do our weekly dinners together as I really enjoy them" should set things straight.

[hackmum]

People feel very very strongly about "cleanliness". Nobody likes to be told that they're dirty, even if they are. Cleanliness has such strong associations with purity and virtue that telling someone they're dirty, or that their kitchen is dirty, or their habits are dirty, feels like an attack on their own worth as a human being.

Think of how often that people who have traditionally been regarded as social outcasts (gypsies, homosexuals etc) are described as "dirty". Think of how religions such as Islam and Judaism divide what we eat into "clean" foods and "dirty" foods.

It was never going to end well...

[ShotsFired]

Serialweightwatcher I have a dog and I always wash the bowl without the washing up bowl in the sink - use the scourer and then throw it in the bin ......

You use a separate scourer for every single dog bowl you wash?
So wasteful for such an infinitesimal risk.

My cat's bowls go in last after all the dishes done (largely because they have bits dried on), but they get washed up just like any other item with the same sponge. Hot water and soap, all fed, none dead here for 20+ adult years and a fully dogged-up childhood too.

[LostSight]

I'm a vet Scarlatti. That site is innacurate.

Here's a veterinary site. They're generally more accurate.

www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/roundworm-infection-in-dogs/899

Alternatively, you can read about it on the NHS website

www.nhs.uk/conditions/Toxocariasis/Pages/Introduction.aspx

It's essential to use reliable sites if you Google for health information.

[PickAChew]

Are we still getting kitchen hygiene threads? I thiought they'd all gone off by the day after Boxing day?

But yeah, that is pretty disgusting.

[Serin]

Dog and cat here.
Agree with you OP, that is minging.
We wash the pet bowls in a separate washing up bowl, with a separate scourer kept for that purpose, the water goes down the outside drain, and the bowls stay outside to dry.

I once went to a friends house for dinner and her long haired cat was asleep on her wooden chopping board, when it moved it had cling on's all over the fur near it's arse. I found it difficult to eat anything that night.

[user1484317265]

I'm also fuming about her saying her house is cleaner! I mean it is

Do you always get irate at people stating true facts?

[sotiredbutworthit]

Lostsight thank you!! Common sense!

[PickAChew]

I would wash a chopping board that someone had put their drippy coffee mug or even a cereal bowl on, as well.

[ExpatTrailingSpouse]

I don't think I saw it mentioned but you can actually get food poisoning from dogs, or rather the same bacteria that causes food poisoning can be found in dogs' saliva. I know this as one New Year's Eve I came down with really bad food poisoning and ended up in hospital. They tested for the type of bacteria - campylobacter and one of the sources is dogs saliva (of which I had two who had in fact licked my face in the period preceding the illness). So yeah the dog spit could have got onto the outside of the bowl and potentially onto the chopping board and potentially given everyone food poisoning.... YANBU.

[ScarletForYa]

I had a look over those sites LostSight but they didn't seem to disagree that worms go from pets to humans.

Yes, toxocariasis is rare and round worms don't spread from human to human. But the fact remains dogs/cats can give humans worms.

[lbsjob87]

YADNBU.
It might not bother her to have dog food in her dinner, but you're a guest, she should have at least made half an effort to move it.
I have a single friend, no DCs, she invited me and my OH round for dinner once.
Got there, she said, it will have to be pizza, we can eat it out of the box, because I have no plates or cutlery clean.
Turns out she only washes up once a week, and this particular day was the day before so the sink was piled up with dirty things, and it stank.
I was quite relieved that we could legitimately eat without having to use any of it TBH.
She's asked again several times since, but I always make excuses not to eat there now.