Why is it OK to eat a COW and not a cat or dog?

Answer 1

It's purely a matter of culture and social acceptance. Dogs and cats are eaten by many peoples and I hear that they're delicious. We eat Cows, because they're big, easily raised and we don't keep them as pets. Many native Americans love dog for special occasions (and not to play fetch).

Answer 2

My dad asks the same question and he said that farmers don't eat cows because the cows help pull the plow, so they think of them as friends, but I guess we don't eat cats or dogs is because after ages, humans see cats and dogs as pets and not food

Answer 3

It's a matter of perspective. Cats and dogs have been primarily pets, helpers and pest control in the majority of the world since they were domesticated thousands of years ago. They were bred differently than cattle and are held in higher regard. I'm certain I wouldn't eat anything I used for pest control. In addition, I wouldn't eat anything I considered a pet. It's not necessarily ok to eat a cow either. That's a matter of perspective. However, they've been used primarily as a food and dairy source since domestication thousands of years ago. That's what they were bred for. There's definitely some health benefits from abstaining from eating any of the above.

Answer 4

First of all cats and dogs are not necessarily pets, they are pets if somebody willingly takes care of them. Cows are bred for consumption, while cats and dogs have been domesticated for pets. It all depends on your nationality, where you live and your financial status. It also depends on the government. If they do not provide neutering programs for such animals then you have an over abundance of strays that would be preyed upon by those who see them as food.
Would you rather see children die of starvation to satisfy other people's sensibilities?
The problem is if legalized, then real pets would be stolen and killed.
Here in the Philippines, it's illegal to eat cats and dogs if you live in urban areas (metropolitan areas), in the rural areas and doing financially well then you don't need to. If you're in the poorest sections of the country, then you can't afford to keep pets. Dogs, cats, rats, mice, locust... as long as nobody own them, then it's hunting season!

Answer 5

Most of the meat we eat comes from herbivorous animals, not from carnivores, which cats and dogs definitely are. I think it must be a combination of real health reasons plus the gross-out factor. In some other cultures, cat and dog are eaten regularly, but not in the USA.

Answer 6

is matter of perspective, normaly you don´t let a cow to sleep on your soffa or walk the cow 3 times a day , so we look at cats and dogs almost as family members.

Answer 7

Cows are raised for beef not for pets like cats and dogs.

Answer 8

because most people think of cats and dogs as pets and cows as, well, food.
I don't think that way though, it's why I'm vegetarian.

Answer 9

Cats and dogs are made to be pets. Cows are livestock just like chickens and pigs. A cat and a dog cannot be livestock but livestocks can be pets.

Answer 10

We can go around and around about wheter it is ok or not to eat certain animals. It depends on your culture and your personal/religious beliefs. Things we have in the grocery store here are simply unheard of elsewhere, and vice versa.
I've had to explain to my own family that partaking in seal meat from a village hunt when I lived in the bush was not being gross or cruel, but in support of their cultural heritage and its continuation. Same with sea lion and walrus.
Eat, drink and be merry- and try not to judge others for their preferences. (You might even like it if you tried it, ya never know!)