To think this is a bit gross?

[SunnyGirl12]

Visited friend today, and had lunch. While there she fed her cats and I noticed their bowls were identical in pattern to the plates we had used, and after she loads our plates with their bowls in the dishwasher. When I exclaimed that it was gross to mix them she told me the cats used bowls from the family set and the whole lot got put together but it's ok because she uses a hot wash on the dishwasher. I am vegetarian, and while I know when I eat out the plate I use has had meat on it at some point no doubt, this has made me totally heave and I think cat food and a cat eating from the same crockery as everyone else is just gross! I assume not dangerous, but maybe?
Won't be going there for lunch again 🤢🤮

While I think it's gross to let the dogs/cats eat off the people plate I know a lot of people seem to wash their toilet brush in the dishwasher and that seems way worse to me.

Technically she is right, the hot wash should take care of the germs.

So what do all the people who think it’s gross feel about eating in restaurants?

That fork or spoon you are putting in your mouth has been in someone else’s mouth you know.

Rational me, as a biologist, can assure you that the temperature in the dishwasher is high enough to kill any nasty bugs.

Irrational me, will concur that I went when DS made me dinner using a random knife he had found at the back of the cutlery drawer and taken to uni that was the knife we used to use to serve cat food from the tin... to the cat that went to the great litter tray in the sky about 2 years before DS was born. So almost quarter of a century later I still feel queasy about using it... Ugh... I can smell cat food now just thinking about it.

Myy mom always says, 'You can't eat at everyone's house'. Reading through this thread has really reinforced that.

I have a friend whom I've noticed tends to make excuses when invited - I think I may now have worked out why

I have 2 cats and they have their own little cat bowls with pictures of cats on .lol
I don’t put their bowls in the dishwasher as I wash them in the sink with a sponge and washing up liquid then bin the sponge afterwards .
I have always bought cat bowls and my mum had cat bowls so we never had to use our own bowls .

I do the same! Sorry....don't care. I do however have "a best set" of crockery and when guests come over, I serve them from those. The cat and dog don't eat from the best set.

I however share our general plates with the animals. We have no dishwasher and I wash our dishes very hot and very well.

Our dog (RIP) used to pre wash lots of things before they went in the dishwasher - fish pie dishes, saucepans used to make cheese sauce, and roasting tins (esp. if leftover gravy added) were favourites. She did a brilliant job on all of them - almost as good as a Brillo Pad.

There were never any ill effects, and luckily I don't have fussy friends.

I don't think animals' mouths are dirtier than humans and cat/dog food, although probably not to our taste, is not poisonous to humans. Yes, animals lick their nether regions but humans also engage in fellatio. What's the difference? Our habits are probably worst than animals; at least they don't put cigarettes in their mouths. Now that truly is disgusting. I do keep separate bowls and cutlery for my pets but it all goes in the dishwasher together. I wouldn't put a toilet brush in there though, I just leave it to soak in bleach in the actual toilet!

I'm usually one of the most anal retentive people when it comes to hygiene, but with this you're being ridiculous. The temperature the dishwasher reaches and the chemicals in the detergent mean there is nothing left on the crockery.

The one that bothers me (massively - to the point where I won't eat at their houses), is the ones who wash their pot towels and cloths in the washing machine in the same wash as their underwear, set it to 30 degree (7 degrees below body temp) think it's clean and then wash and their crockery with them - just no.

Dishwashers often miss bits. Please correct her

No they really don't, if it is, it is not being used/maintained properly.

I wouldn't put a toilet brush in there though

Oh God, I remember that thread a few years back. That was an eye opener.

@crazyasafox You think I’m obtuse and obnoxious and stubborn and you don’t know how I get through life. I think you’re germphobic and neurotic and I don’t know how you get through life...

I have a separate sink for my pets bowls! I wash all their stuff in the outside one with their own sponge. Personally, I’d never wash our plates with theirs. Just a bit gross to me

Wouldn't bother me at all.

No one does the bin thing!?

yeah our dog licks all plates before they go in a dishwasher- I do not think we are unusual so you may be better off not eating at freinds' places if they have pets.

Same here.

The dishwasher washes stuff so hot you have to let plates etc cool down before you take them out. I can't imagine many germs survive that.

I used to know someone who had his own cleaning business, and one of buildings he cleaned was a pet food factory.

He said that it was cleaner than many hotels etc, and went on to tell me about the state of the kitchens in a top London hotel where he'd had to do an emergency deep clean to stop environmental health from closing it down.

I suspect you've probably been exposed to more yuckiness when eating out than you are at your friend's, OP.

That's vile. What a dirty cow 🤢

Fluffa

I put the kitchen bins in the dishwasher. One of the most useful features of our dishwasher is that you can remove the top rack, attach an extra spray at the back and use it to wash big things like the kitchen bin or oven door glass.

I also put the cat bowls in with everything else. They do have their own plates, but it makes no logical sense to do so. After all, everything comes out of the dishwasher clean. We used to have 'cat forks' but they broke so now we just use normal forks.

If you use your dishwasher to wash things that have raw chicken on them and expect them to come out clean, the same applies to everything else, including cat bowls, which means that there is no reason for them not to share them with the people in the household.

Agree that petfood factories are very clean. They are also part of the UK emergency resiliance arrangements so if something happened to human food factories, or there was an emergency need to can a lot of food quickly, then petfood factories can be turned into canning plants for beans, soup or anything else that can be canned within 24 hours.

Say if there was a fire/bomb at a large beans canning plant with the aim of preventing access to canned food, they would start using the petfood factories instead. Which may mean shortages of pet food in preference to human food, but needs must and all that.

Oven door glass in the dishwasher.

That is fucking genius.

The bowls thing doesn't bother me.

What I did think was gross was when I learnt that someone I knew kept the cat's litter tray in the kitchen.

Well, not sure I could put up with that being there while I am making food, even if clean.

Does the oven glass come out actually clean?
I’ve been paying a man to do mine!

Does the glass really come out?

YANBU. Not because of germs but the smell off cat food makes me want to vomit especially if it's a hot day and a bit of food is left uneaten. I would just wash the cat bowls in the sink.

If you eat in a restaurant I am afraid to break it that sometimes your fork was previously used by someone who gave their partner a BJ or something more intimate.Life is dirty.I think you need to practice some radical acceptance.

I was gobsmacked that my friend who is the most fastidious person I know, was feeding his cats lik e lix of his best played. His conversation to crazy cat man complete!