Poll: Is it morally wrong to eat cats and dogs?

[dementis]

It's not morally wrong they're meat just like everything else, but why eat cute furry animals that are awesome to hug when you can eat a cow, if I'm ever starving to death in a wasteland situation then I wouldn't even think twice about it, but I'd proably feel bad after.

 

[DTWolfwood]

nothing to do with morals.

food is food. Some are raised as livestock and some are raised as pets. Your pick of which is which.

 

[manic_depressive13]

Yes, but that's because eating any animal is morally wrong, regardless of whether they are kept as house pets in certain cultures.

 

[Connor Lonske]

I don't know, my Fallout 1 and 3 characters really enjoy their bit of Dogmeat.

 

[Kargathia]

Morally wrong? No.

Am I going to make sure you die slowly and painfully if you eat my cat? You bet.

 

[KaiRai]

I was tempted to eat my friends cat when it woke me up at half 8 this morning pawing my face and meowing like a fire engine.

But yeah, I don't see why I would want to. Cats and dogs are sinewy. They'd taste gross.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Probably tastes gross (carnivores and all) but morally wrong? No.

 

[Safaia]

Logically the feeling a cat owner would get over someone eating a cat is no different than a person who keeps a pig a pet watching another eat pork.

Would I do it personally? No. Is it wrong? Not even a little.

 

[Fetzenfisch]

I like dogs, so i wouldnt. But in my grandmother's youthdays, you ate what wasnt fast or clever enough to flee.
It depends on the level of luxury and the culture. Some places think guinypigs are delicious, others like dogs, others eat monkeys. For them its just normal. As for others its incredibly disgusting to eat rotten milk (cheese).

 

[spartan231490]

Personally, this may be because I don't have any pets of my own but I wouldn't have any problems with eating a cat or a dog more than I would with say a sheep or a pig. While the UK I've never seen anywhere that serves either if I ever go to China and get the opportunity to try some I probably will. However, I'm interested to see what everyone else thinks as I know a lot of people get really emotional about pets and wouldn't want to see a distant cousin of their beloved Mr. Cuddles in a burger, which I can kinda understand.

So Escapists, what are your opinions?

Personally, i wouldn't eat one because I would be worried about the taste(carnivores have a very different taste than grain or grass fed animals) and because I think dogs and cats are more useful as companions than as food(because of their intelligence) but I don't think it's wrong. I wouldn't eat octopus or calamari either, but that doesn't make it evil.

why would dogs and cats be more intelligent than other animals? I'm pretty sure sheep can make fine pets too, any animal can be trained. and you can get horse meat no problem.
I agree though, I wouldn't eat cats or dogs (or octopus), but it's all between my ears, I have no rational reasons for not eating them.

Dogs and cat's are definitely more intelligent than pigs and cows, and probably sheep as well. I don't eat horse meat because it's more useful as a beast of burden.

got anything to back that up? sheep and pigs have larger brains than cats, and dogs aren't intelligent, they're trained. they still can't reason.
as for the horse thing... that argument kindof falls apart when you realize noone uses them as such anymore for any reason besides recreation. noone rides them because they NEED to, they do it because they think it's fun. The only ones who still use horses for anything practical is the police.

I've had direct contact with all 5 species of animals(not sheep, that would be six). I'm not going to argue with you, and I don't have any sources you would accept. But I have seen the intelligence of dogs and cat's with my own eyes, and seen the stupidity of cows with the same. Pigs I could go either way on, they don't act that stupid but none of the people I know who raise them have even managed to teach them to eat without standing in the trough. As for brain size, the crow is an animal capable of using advanced reasoning and even tools, and it's brain is the size of my fist. If brain size were directly correlated to intelligence, and not body size, whales would have developed space flight by now.

 

[HerrBobo]

It is not morally wrong to eat any animal.

Animals exist only at my pleasure.

 

[The .50 Caliber Cow]

There isn't anything morally wrong with it... I just wouldn't want to though.

This. That and as a person who has had pets as a kid, it would be too hard. However, if you need food bad...

 

[Heronblade]

wrong? no questionable without cause? yes

The more intelligence and personality of an animal, the better suited they are for companionship rather than food. Dogs and cats are among the most compatible with humans, while most of the animals we do eat have little to no personality. Cattle as mentioned are among the dumbest creatures I've ever worked with, and while pigs are significantly smarter, they fail to use that intelligence for anything constructive.

 

[2xDouble]

Morally wrong? no. But they taste terrible.

I don't like the idea of people eating my furry friends, but I don't object to it either. Heck, I eat cow and some people consider them divine.

As long as its not harmful to them, who am I to judge what people eat?

Do you think it's not harmful to their life to get eaten? Tho, I have to commend you on having the balls to try some. I'm one of the rare people that did try fried bugs when the insectarium (aka, the bug zoo) decided to give sampling. I loved the chocolate coated worms.

Actually, I meant the people eating it, not the animals themselves. I object to people eating, say, poisonous mushrooms, or rotten carcasses, or rocks.

Besides tasting really bad (sort of like raccoon, if you've had that. Very gamey and not a lot of flavor. Beef is so much better its not even funny.), Dogs and Cats serve much greater purposes than nourishment. Cats eat mice and rats, which can destroy grain crops. Dogs can aid in hunting and will chase and eat larger pests like squirrels and raccoons. Dogs especially are very good at self defense, and can protect you from snoopy predators. These extremely useful behaviors and general friendliness toward humans are why we domesticated them in the first place. Quite simply, they're far more useful to us alive than food.

 

[cathou]

Besides tasting really bad (sort of like raccoon, if you've had that. Very gamey and not a lot of flavor. Beef is so much better its not even funny.), Dogs and Cats serve much greater purposes than nourishment. Cats eat mice and rats, which can destroy grain crops. Dogs can aid in hunting and will chase and eat larger pests like squirrels and raccoons. Dogs especially are very good at self defense, and can protect you from snoopy predators. These extremely useful behaviors and general friendliness toward humans are why we domesticated them in the first place. Quite simply, they're far more useful to us alive than food.

maybe but we eat also rabbits and horses, and yet rabbit are quite friendly and used as a pet, and horses are really usefull, but you can find horse meat in a lot of supermarket...

 

[Lectori Salutem]

I don't think it's morally wrong.
I do, however, like cats, so I don't like it if people started eating them.

 

[Necrofudge]

It's against my religion, it probably has awful taste and why the fuck would you want to eat a dog or a cat.

If it had an awful taste then why do people already eat dogs in Korea? Just to feel special?
They probably taste like pretty much any other animal when cooked.

OT: Wouldn't eat a cat based on personal preference, but I figure if we eat pigs, we might as well eat dogs. It's not like dogs are smarter.

If you are talking North Korea, people are eating rats. And it isnt because it tastes good, its because they are starving. I mean people in Africa aint eating their own shit because it taste good either, nor building houses out of shit because it smells nice.

No, I'm talking about South Korea. If you took more than 3 seconds to think up your response, you could have done a google search on it before making some stupid assumption: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_meat_consumption_in_South_Korea

 

[Soviet Steve]

They're the same as other non-sentient animals.