Cat debate, need back up!

[ProudMamaBear92]

Okay so I need help to settles this once and for all because it’s a constant argument in our house. I’ll try keep it concise.

We have two lovely cats, one pedigree one moggy, both equally gorgeous. One was a surprise present from DH for my 30th, the other inherited.

DH hates me cleaning the cat bowls in the house and insists I clean them outside. I think this is ridiculous. I use a sponge just for the cats, I wash them seperately with hot water and soap and clean the sink after. I prefer they eat inside so I can clean the bowl soon after they are done. He makes them eat outside and then the bowls get gross with flies and slugs because we work all day.

He wants me to use the garden hose to rinse off and just let them dry outside, but then they don’t get properly clean and the cats will get sick. So he suggests I sit outside with a bowl of soapy water and clean them there. I’ll add I have a toddler and work full time, who has time for that?! Also means DS can’t go outside with the gross cat bowls because he’ll touch them.

I refuse to play along, try do it my way when he’s not there and he gets really angry about it and we argue.

AIBU??

The cat dishes go in the dishwasher with all the other dishes

anything else is madness

imagine having a special sponge for your cat food bowls.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Might be different with a dishwasher, but I remember having to pick dog hairs out of the washing up brush on the daily as a teen, fun times 😆

I put my cat's dishes through the dishwasher with our dishes.

My cat’s bowls go in the dishwasher with the rest of the stuff. I’ve never been ill. Your husband is being ridiculous.

Cat food is safe for human consumption. It's not the most pleasant smell (unless you're like my ex, who loved tinned stewing steak - which smelled and looked absolutely identical to the brand we were using at the time), but whilst I'd use kitchen roll to wipe out the remains of the meat blobs and a separate sponge to handwash, they go into the dishwasher along with everything else and come out perfectly clean.

I certainly wouldn't want to attract other cats, foxes, slugs, flies and rats by leaving food outside all day.

I've never heard of anyone washing pet bowls in the garden, how bizarre.

Mine have thier own bowls, they are washed in the sink or placed in the dishwasher along with everything else. I use a normal fork to break up the chunks and that just gets washed normally too, never occurred not to. It's cat food, its not highly toxic.

We have two cats. One was inherited and will only eat outside. I'm always there at their mealtimes so when they have finished, if there are any leftovers I wipe them away with kitchen towel and then the bowls get washed in hot soapy water with the sponge I use for 'human' dishes and utensils.

I posted up-thread to say we put cat dishes in the dishwasher, but came back to say our naughty boy is right in amongst human food if given half a chance. This was pea and ham soup I was about to microwave, and just went to rinse the tin for recycling. (Did I eat the soup? Well. We’re all friends here.)

I wash the cat bowls in the kitchen sink and have done for years. Plenty of hot water and Fairy Liquid - no one's died yet.

Either in dishwasher with household dishes or washed in sink with their own sponge is what I do.

Your DH is being bizarre.

He's ridiculous. We just shoved them in the dishwasher

I wash the cats bowls daily with hot soapy water they have their owl forks that go in the dishwasher.

When I had toddlers we always had a baby gate over the utility room door where the bowls/litter trays were so no crawlers could go exploring, in saying that DD1 did eat cat litter once, she went through a strange eating everything stage, she got banned from playing with chalk at nursery as she kept eating it. We like to remind her of this often as she’s 20 now and fussy with food 😀

@RecycleMePlease

cannibal

@littlbrowndog

you are rude.

Er… does he wash the chopping boards that have had raw dead animal flesh like chicken outside with a hose and let them air dry and ban them from the kitchen?

Hot soapy water and separate sponges or a dishwasher are perfectly fine.

Pet food bowls give me the ick, too. It's definitely the food, and the smell of it, that bothers me, rather than the pets themselves - I'm quite happy to have DDog sleep on the bed, DCat curl up on a pile of clean washing and the cat has been known to sit on the kitchen table too. So I would always wash pet bowls indoors but separately with their own sponge etc - but that's a much better solution than leaving them outside all day and coming back to a bowl full of maggots!

As a compromise, how about getting one of those plastic washing-up bowls for all your pet stuff? You could even wash the bowls away from the kitchen - for example, in the utility room or the bathroom.

@ProudMamaBear92

i am probably one of the most 'fussy' people you'll ever (not) meet, re hygiene, most people despair of my 'ways' (including my Mum). Especially in the kitchen.

I think your DH is being ridiculous. I'd give him 2 options 1. He STFU 2. He does them himself. In no way would I be pandering to this 💩.

I'm also vegetarian, so it's both 'the meat/fish as well as the fact the pets have eaten from the dishes.

they all have their own dishes. Cat gets fed & her dishes get washed in the utility room sink. She has her own cloths for washing & drying them (me, not her!!) It's her space, her bed & cat flap are in there too & I can shut both interior doors if needs be to give her some space from the dogs (or people). It's a decent size room as it was the original kitchen before the extension.

The 'boys' (labradors) get fed in the kitchen/diner & I hand wash their dishes in the kitchen sink, then wipe it down. None of their dishes go in the dishwasher. Mind you Big Yellow does a mighty fine job of making them look brand new!!

time for husband to go. He's a twat.

This is utterly absurd. Only put the amount they will eat, if there's a bit more and he's that fussy then chuck it away. Wasteful as I'd save it under foil for their next meal. But if it's empty then just wipe the bowl with kitchen paper, then immediately wash in the sink, separate from other dishes. There's no way that could be considered unhygienic?
It feels like he does not want to own a cat.
Is he really OCD about germs and cleaning in general? Is it that he hates the smell of cat food? Who doesn't, but it's only there for a couple of minutes while they eat.
He'd absolutely love my two who have a charming habit of promptly vomiting on the carpet seconds after eating! (They're perfectly healthy btw)

Dear Husband

Mumsnet has voted. From this day forth it is your job to clean the cats' bowls as you wish.

Mine go in the dishwasher for the most part with everything else, on the rare occasion they get hand washed I just use the current kitchen cloth in use, its a bit of cat food you aren’t going to die, he’s being ridiculous!

My cat's bowls get washed with the rest of the dishes. In 65 years of living with cats, and sometimes dogs, I have remained remarkably healthy.

You DH is an idiot, and I would be telling him so and just doing what I thought right. If he doesn't like it then he knows what he can do!

Gorgeous! DM and I once found the family cat eating from the bowl of whipped cream waiting to go on the pudding for us and our guests. Didn't seem to do anyone any harm. 😄

I would be very concerned with flies laying eggs on the food and the cats then eating it.

@IsEveryUserNameBloodyTaken "I would be very concerned with flies laying eggs on the food and the cats then eating"

You are aware that cats catch and eat flies, spiders, mice, voles, frogs, rats, birds, rabbits.....