Using human food utensils and dishes for Pets

[Anonymous]

My dog doesn’t have her own food bowl. She only eats once a day and doesn’t free feed so I grab a bowl from the cupboard and feed her, then the bowl goes in the dishwasher. Somebody might use it for cereal the next morning.

She does have her own water bowl. I probably wouldn’t offer it to a guest because it says “GOOD DOG” on the side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a friend that when they had finished their coffee, put the cup on the floor so that their dog could finish it off. Whenever the friend offered me a drink I politely declined. Sorry, but I would never knowingly eat or drink off anything that a pet had used to eat or drink from. It seems unsanitary and let's be honest, not a good look.

Okay, but it’s not unsanitary, that’s just your mental illness talking.

Mental illness? No, it's just the way I was raised. The dog had its bowl and we humans had our own plates, bowls, cups etc. Sharing them with the dog was just something we never did.

Do you think something sticks around after they’ve been through the dishwasher? How can you stand to eat at a restaurant then?

I honestly don't think my thinking is out of the ordinary. As far as I know most people don't share their plates and bowls with dogs. If I thought for one minute that restaurants were serving up my food that a dog had eaten off I wouldn't eat there again. I don't know the humans that have eaten off the plates-bowls at a restaurants, but people are generally cleaner than dogs and animals, so I'll take my chances.

What if you were told that once -- just once, in the entire history of all restaurants on the planet -- a fork fell on the floor of the restaurant kitchen.

Mind you, I'm sure this has never happened. All restaurant kitchens in America at least (and certain European countries) are as clean surgical theaters, floors included. I'm always impressed that chefs can spend so long cooking wearing only their pristine indoor slippers.

And yet, imagine -- just imagine! -- that a fork fell on the floor of a restaurant kitchen. Would you ever eat out ever again?

[Anonymous]

Microbiologist here.

1. Pets can use human utensils, as long as the dishwasher cleans your dishes well enough and runs rather hot water. It also depends on the pet and what they might be exposed to: an indoor bird is unlikely to carry anything you might catch, a dog, most assuredly so. My dog has eaten off human dishes, but I wash them separately and carefully before putting them back in circulation.

2. Never use dishes/cutlery that your dog has used without washing it thoroughly first, with hot water. You are putting yourself at risk for annoying worm parasites, E coli, any number of other bacterial infections. It’s just not worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a friend that when they had finished their coffee, put the cup on the floor so that their dog could finish it off. Whenever the friend offered me a drink I politely declined. Sorry, but I would never knowingly eat or drink off anything that a pet had used to eat or drink from. It seems unsanitary and let's be honest, not a good look.

Okay, but it’s not unsanitary, that’s just your mental illness talking.

Mental illness? No, it's just the way I was raised. The dog had its bowl and we humans had our own plates, bowls, cups etc. Sharing them with the dog was just something we never did.

Do you think something sticks around after they’ve been through the dishwasher? How can you stand to eat at a restaurant then?

I honestly don't think my thinking is out of the ordinary. As far as I know most people don't share their plates and bowls with dogs. If I thought for one minute that restaurants were serving up my food that a dog had eaten off I wouldn't eat there again. I don't know the humans that have eaten off the plates-bowls at a restaurants, but people are generally cleaner than dogs and animals, so I'll take my chances.

What if you were told that once -- just once, in the entire history of all restaurants on the planet -- a fork fell on the floor of the restaurant kitchen.

Mind you, I'm sure this has never happened. All restaurant kitchens in America at least (and certain European countries) are as clean surgical theaters, floors included. I'm always impressed that chefs can spend so long cooking wearing only their pristine indoor slippers.

And yet, imagine -- just imagine! -- that a fork fell on the floor of a restaurant kitchen. Would you ever eat out ever again?

Your imagination is really running loose. I just don't share my dishes of any kind with animals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Microbiologist here.

1. Pets can use human utensils, as long as the dishwasher cleans your dishes well enough and runs rather hot water. It also depends on the pet and what they might be exposed to: an indoor bird is unlikely to carry anything you might catch, a dog, most assuredly so. My dog has eaten off human dishes, but I wash them separately and carefully before putting them back in circulation.

2. Never use dishes/cutlery that your dog has used without washing it thoroughly first, with hot water. You are putting yourself at risk for annoying worm parasites, E coli, any number of other bacterial infections. It’s just not worth it.

Engineer here. Your dishwasher can reach much higher water temperatures than you can tolerate or produce with a conventional hot water heater. Second, dishwasher detergent is extremely alkaline. Washing everything at once in a dishwasher is safe and better for the environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What? I feed my dogs off our plates sometimes. Sometimes I let them lick my plate. Sometimes I even (gasp) feed them off my fork. If this is horrifying feel free to think I’m a freak but it has literally never occurred to me to worry about it.

That’s nasty, PP.

Don’t you ever wonder why people wouldn’t eat your nasty home-cooked food.

[NP with 2 dogs]

[Anonymous]

My dog eats and drinks from my bowls. Everything goes in the dishwasher. I’ve never thought twice about this.

[Anonymous]

I lick my ice cream bowl or a cake plate sometimes. Do you think it is safe for my dog to use if I put it in the dishwasher first? FYI - I don’t lick my butt though.

[Anonymous]

I’d rather share plates with my dog than with most humans…

[Anonymous]

On a related topic—who else had the giant bowl that was for two things: popcorn and to keep by the bed when you’re throwing up as a kid? Hopefully not just my family.

[Anonymous]

Do you not wash dishes between uses? I don't see the problem.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t share a dish with a pet without washing it first. I also don’t let our pets lick my face. But there’s absolutely nothing wrong with letting a pet use a dish, washing the dish in the dishwasher, then using it for humans. The heat and chemicals make it clean. If the dishwasher weren’t effective enough to make a bowl my pet drank water from safe enough to have some fruit in later, how are we not all getting salmonella? That seems like a much bigger problem for ineffective dishwashers than pet germs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my house there are no dog utensils or human utensils. There are just utensils and plates. The dog has her own food bowl but sometimes she eats off regular plates too. They all get washed together and used again by whoever needs them first.

Gross but good for you. Seeing as how they're washed together I guess that if you were short of bowls you would quite happily offer food in a washed dogs bowl to a guest?

It would be up to the dog. It's her bowl.

[Anonymous]

Just put the dishes in the dishwasher after use. The dishwasher is a great product.

I wouldn’t hand wash anything I wanted sanitized unless I was going to set up a sanitizing risk. In a commercial kitchen, there are three sinks for hand washing. A wash sink with soap, a rinse sink, and then a sanitizing sink with a chemical sanitizer (I think it’s usually an acid, but you can also use bleach. In a commercial kitchen the chemicals are set up on the wall with automatic dosing). The dishes sit in the last sink for a prescribed amount of time.

The dishwasher is much easier and very efficient.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What? I feed my dogs off our plates sometimes. Sometimes I let them lick my plate. Sometimes I even (gasp) feed them off my fork. If this is horrifying feel free to think I’m a freak but it has literally never occurred to me to worry about it.

I do this almost daily (feeding from my fork). Have for decades. Decades.


It’s fine.