Is it illegal to eat cats?

Question

In my home country, we used to eat cats as a delicious meal, but after moving to the United States, I do not want to do anything illegal. Will I get in trouble if I eat a cat?

Please don't judge me, some cultures are very different.

Answer 1

Yes, it is illegal to eat a cat...animal rights and animal cruelty laws would forbid it. However..it is NOT illegal to consume your own arm. Go for it! I won't tell anyone!

Answer 2

Eating of the meat from cats and dogs has been illegal in the USA for quite some time. There are, however, certain cultures in the USA who do eat this meat but they are rarely prosecuted for doing so. It is still legal in Canada providing the meat is not sold. And it will always be that way because the Government will never hire meat inspectors for that particular job even though there are provisions for it in our food & health codes. If I were inclined to eat dog (and I most certainly AM NOT ) I could ring up some people close by to where I live in Canada and secure some dog meat. No money would exchange hands.

Answer 3

Only about 15 states have any specific laws banning eating cat or dog meat. including Pennsylvania New York and California, most states do not ban the eating of cats or dogs and honestly just because you think of an animal as a pet or a "family member" does not give you the right to judge or condem someone else for seeing it as food. that is extremely biast of you and just plain wrong. what about places where pigs, cows and chickens are kept as pets? wouldn't that mean you are horrible people for eating them since people do consider them pets. besides we Americans obviously do not care that much about our cats and dogs or there would not bee so many feral ones and we declaw cats all the time, would you have a "family members" fingers cut off? that is what declawing does.

so in summary it depends on witch state you live in so read up on the local animal and pet laws.

Answer 4

illegal eat cats

Answer 5

It is illegal and in the us we have cats as family members. They are not just pets but we consider them our family member. My last cat who passed away is now cremated and on my living room entertainment center. She will be buried with me. My new cat is like my adoped daughter. That is just an example of how Americans think of our pets. So be careful who you mention that to. Please don't eat our friends and family members. Go to the food market they have plenty of animals who are butchered there that are already deceased for food consumption. This question will anger a lot of people.

Answer 6

I don't know if it's illegal or not. That may vary from state to state. Just don't start grabbing people's pets for dinner. That could cause you all sorts of problems. We don't eat cats in the US because they carry a disease that can make you very sick. It's called toxoplasma gondii and it is in most cats. Here's a link to tell you about the disease:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasma_gondii

Perhaps you should try rabbits. They are very tender and good and easy to raise. You can even get some that are very large, much larger than a cat.
Here's some info about raising rabbits for food:
http://www.rudolphsrabbitranch.com/rrr.htm

Answer 7

i would advise you keep the whole cat eating thing on the down low. but where i live we eat rabbit and squirrel and other small game and it is ok. americans are just not into eating cats.

Answer 8

It's my job to judge you. Do not eat a cat. They are companion animals.

Answer 9

okay well firstly i would like to point out that i am a vegetarian and would never consider eating meat again...
now lets see..most of the people answering here are from western society...and in western society, cats are considered friends and companions, not food..most of us find it absolutely barbaric to kill and eat a cat...i have researched on the killing methods in alot of asian countries, how they kill cats and i think it is absolutely wrong and disgusting not to mention cruel...BUT, how can the westerners point the finger and say it is cruel for you to eat cat simply because they live in a place where it is not considered 'normal' ? what about them eating cows? where in some countries cows are considered holy and godly n all that? they could call westerners barbaric for eating their god...and the way americans, australians and europeans treat the cows and chickens and animals they consider food is atrocious too...stuffing them in small crates to travel extremely long distances with no food but hormones to make them grow, and insufficient water...most end up chewing their own hair (cows n goats) to get the roughage they crave...
so honestly? i think any eating of any animal is barbaric, but from the point of view of you people who eat meat, i dont think the cat is any more or less a food item than a baby cow... really i think it is horrible to eat either, but if you eat cow, how can you verbally bash others who eat a different animal to you?
n saying it is a pet isnt good enough really, cos i had three pet chickens for years and i loved them, yet people eat chicken every day...
so really, yes you can eat cat if you buy it and do it all yourself...of course you must follow the animal cruelty laws...so the killing methods from your country wont do, you would have to do it humanely...
as i said, i am completely against killing animals for food, but i dont see why some animals should be valued more than others...
in the United States, thousands of cats are bred deliberately and end up in animal shelters where many of them are euthanized (or worse, handed over to laboratories). So as long as the conditions are not stressful and the method of dispatch is humane, there is little difference in breeding cats for food and breeding them as (ultimately unwanted) pets - at the end of the day, the cat is just as dead.

Answer 10

.Cats should only be used as a pet, in the U.S. it is illegal. If I was you, I wouldn't even mention the thought.