Okay, making cakes tonight...have first batch in oven; dishes in sink to make batter for next batch. I greased all my pans--actually had enough without having to rewash any--they are on the counter. I go put the kids to bed and wait for cakes in oven to come out--this was my mistake because I should have gone and washed those dishes and started the next batch...nope wanted to sit--in other words, got online . I go in the kitchen to peek on cakes and my cat jumps off counter. Hmmm, I look, she's only by the sinkful of dirty dishes...well, I have to wash them anyway and I figure she thought she was going to drink the soapy water or something . Fast forward cakes are cooling and I go into kitchen to wash some dishes and make cake and the cat jumps off the counter AGAIN! Upon closer inspection, I see that she did find something appealing...YUCK!!! She licked one of my greased cake pans!!!!!!!! I checked them all but it looks like just the one but I wash all of them again. I don't have any ruined cake but WTF?! Apparently cats like flour, oil and shortening [make my own pan grease]..? She is a weird cat but this...I don't even know!



The good news is....cake is fine and smells great!!

that is generally why cats are not permitted in licensed kitchens. And where they walk, they leave dander and hair.

Too funny, this has happened to other CC people too.

They also love buttercream. At least my one does. Don't ask me how I know that

We had our cat for about a year. I had to lock her up when I was baking & decorating cause she would not stay off of EVERYTHING. We are not cat people & eventually gave her to a friend & she is much happier now & so are we.

indydebi......totally agreee with you!

indydebi.... you've said everything I was thinking & was about the say.. THANK YOU!!


I TOTALLY AGREE!

IndyDeb you've said it right again.

I have 3 black cats that are not allowed on the first floor, ever. When I'm creating a new recipe or making a sample of something I never have to worry about cats. I do not pet them until I'm upstairs and about to take a shower. All doors are closed upstairs in order to keep hair from being on our clothes, bedding, etc.

Even with all that I still clean the heck out of the kitchen before each and every project. I'm a sanitary freak. Because of my nature I only get colds every couple of years. (go me!)

We always made homemade bread and had a canister of wheat gluten in the kitchen--along with one of flour, sugar, etc. She would always try to knock the top off of the one with wheat gluten. I put some in a sandwich baggie and she would carry it off. She would also carry Roma tomatoes upstairs by sinking her teeth into them and running off. She became an "outside cat" soon afterward.

I would not want to find any hair (whether animal or human) or fuzz in my food. F.O.F. -- Foreign Object in Food

We have no pets in the house now. I'm comfortable with our decision to make her an outside cat ---and my husbands allergies are MUCH MUCH better now!

I don't remember you asking for people to tell you how gross you were for having cats, or how nasty cats feet are for that matter

I thought it was kinda funny Bet you won't leave the cat alone with your cake stuff again huh?

the OP didn't specify as to weather the baked goods in question were for sale, or even that she sells out of her home at all. For all we know it was for her family. (who might very well enjoy a cat hair every now & again

I just see so much judgement on the internet. I especially hate to see it on such a friendly site as CC.

I feel for you. I had a cat who, it turned out, had a taste for cake and icing. She had to go live with my mom -- I actually put her in a crate and drove her to the airport. Fortunately my mom loves her and the cat is much happier in her new home than here!

Wow....yeah, seems people got out the rope to hang her , when we dont know if she only bakes for her family. I personally dont want any animals where I prepare my food. But to crucify the person before you know if she just bakes for family and it seemed was wondering kinda what to do.....

Well, here's another topic that people have strong opinions about!
I think OP was just sharing a story she found odd and funny (a cat who likes pan grease!?!!!)

I just have to say this.

I don't really see the issue being who a cake is for (family vs. customer), the issue is food safety and cleanliness. I don't give anything to my loved ones that I would not give to a customer. Their health and well being is just as important. I am NOT saying anything against the original poster as he/she may feel the same way.

No, we don't have all the details but taking just what was written, there is a hazard there. I think that's all anyone was saying.

I for one wouldnt serve my family anything I wouldnt serve to customers either...however the rules and regulations for a business anre dictated and what people choose to do in their own homes is none of our damn business. Who has a child who hasnt dropped their lolly pop and stuck it back in their mouth before you could stop them? Or a baby stick God knows what in their mouth? People who have pets...cook and they eat. Most of them don't die from it. Their level of cleanliness in their home ...is their business.

Well I'm an animal lover and I have just gotten two kittens that were orphaned when their momma got taken by a field plow.... Anyway... yes they have their place in my house, they are kittens and don't get anywhere near my counters and such but they are still not permitted in the kitchen, but sometimes you can't help that and that's a fact of life.

I do my decorating in my living room because I have no where else to do it right now and it works out for us. When it's time to decorate I, now, put the kittens up in my bedroom where they have food, water, and a litterbox. They stay there until my cake is finished and boxed and in the fridge where they can't get at it.

I learned the hard way the other day making cupcakes for MY OWN FAMILY to consume, that my little one, Precious now nicknamed Cupcake, loves buttercream lol. I dropped a small dollop and before I could get it cleaned up she was all over it. She had it cleaned up off the floor in a matter of seconds and then went after the finished cupcakes. I then put things down and scooped the kittens up and took them upstairs to their "time out" spot and came back down and continued what I was doing.

Now if it was for someone else I would have thrown out anything she got near and started over, but since she didn't make it near the cupcakes or the bowl of icing or the bags of icing I didn't feel I needed to take these procautions.

I do think people jumped the gun here and beat her to death rudely before hearing the entire situation. I'm sure she is a very clean person and washes her counters down before beginning a project just like the rest of us do. Even if you don't have cats that can pussyfoot on the counters you get dust and everything else on them too. Yelling at her for something like that is in the same sense as me telling you your little brats don't belong anywhere near the kitchen because just like an animal little kids will stick their fingers in something and sometimes unless you actually catch them in the act you don't know if they've actually touched something or not....

Don't get me wrong here I'm not singling anyone out and I have kids of my own. They have their place too when it's baking time and she knows she's not to be around. I mean come on now if someone sneezes in your house do you throw the cake out that's sitting out cooling in the kitchen? If someone passes gas do you throw it out? It's not infected with germs because germs are everywhere! and travel very quickly... do you throw everything out and start over and demand everyone hold their bodily functions in for the entire day and wear face masks and such so nothing happens again? No you ignore it because it's a fact of life and continue on.

So her cat licked the pan big deal she washed the pan before using it and I'm sure she washed the counters down and everything again before continuing. You don't have to jump her so bad I'm sure she's a grown woman and knows how to clean.

*Moderator edited for language*

LOL...wht and Ohmygoodies...I have thought that too...things dont always come across the way we want them to here. Also....I hear FAR more stores about unsanitary practices in LICENSED KITCHENS..making people sick by the thousand everyday..I.E..e-coli-from wendys ...taco bell ..etc. and have never heard many stories about a home baker making anyone sick.
You never know when the worker in the backdidnt WASH THEIR HANDS...after scratchin their @ss...or whatever...but people eat out...assuming that those places are clean. Ill take my chances on the home baker.

From someone that has worked in Subway, Hardee's, and a hospital Coffee Shop... I can tell you horror stories that would make you never eat at another one again.... People spitting in the seafood & crab sub mix.... and mixing it up and serving it to someone hours later... ewww! Made me stop working there and never eating in that one again. People at Hardee's using the rest room, coming out without washing their hands and going right back to taking raw chicken out of a bowl and battering it and throwing it in the deep fryer. Now granted anything germy wise was killed in the fryer but ewww pissy hands on my chicken! Hell no I quit and never eat there anymore. A HOSPITAL coffee shop that serves the entire hospital staff as well as any people visiting... A lady that had been employed there for numerous years, dropped meat on the floor while making a salad up, picks it up brushes it off and places it in the salad. Sneezes on a fresh pie before slicing it up and plating it for sale, goes to the rest room, returns without washing her hands and proceeds to prepare peoples orders (in a place where everything is hands on and you HAVE to touch everything with bare hands...) Needless to say again I quit and never ate there again, and the place got shut down and the cafeteria opened up full time in it's place to serve the public instead of just preparing for patients.

You never hear about what happens in someones home because it's never as bad as what happens in the resturants... I went to taco bell bought a soft taco went home to eat it, bit into it, it was fine, took another bite and another bite.. finally on the 4th or 5th bite I hit something hard and crunchy I excuse myself from the dinner table go to the kitchen lay a napkin on the counter spit out and inspect what was in my mouth. I find a chunk of my tooth sitting there next to a metal bb. I remove the piece of tooth and the bb rinse them off in a cup, return to the store, explain what happened and am told by some idiot manager that doesn't think I watch TV and know what happens to cows now a days... and tells me that it's a shot gun pellet that was used in the killing of the cow and wasn't found and removed during processing of the meat... HELLO?! Cows are NOT killed like that anymore.....

So yeah I can tell you quite a few bad stories about resturants and it doesn't come close to a cat walking on the counters or a child touching a cake with wet spit covered fingers and you never knowing about it because they heard you coming and didn't have time to take a piece before running out of the kitchen.... heard about it seen it happen (yes I made him eat it and told everyone else not to touch it because he basically licked it lmao) and made another one, but sometimes you don't catch it because my god mother nature calls and you have to tinkle or you're going to have a puddle in the kitchen and how sanitary is THAT!? lmao

There are tons of places that have their animals in the shop with them... at least places I've been I've seen owners who have their dogs right there by their side... kinda like Paula Deen does.... but they are still in business.... And yes I understand the arguement here that animals don't belong around food and did anyone ever stop to think she was in the kitchen moments before and was stopping the cat from doing this and when she did take a break, like many of us do, the cat snuck in there anyway... shit happens move on don't bash her for it it's not like it got into the cake and she sold it to someone damn it licked a pan walked on the counter she washed the pan and I'm sure she washed the counter.... she took the steps needed to make it ok again... I'm thinking her only mistake was coming here to give a few people a laugh at how funny cats can be....

Did anyone ever stop to think that because not everyone can read your mind and tell how you are meaning the things we're typing can actually cause some people to stop posting in the forums all together??? I for example stopped posting in the forums for 2 months because of the way people talked to me and stuff.... lighten up people it's not the end of the world.

I dont think it sounds mean Shirley...its a personal choice. I personally wouldnt have animals where I bake either...(in my shop)..well at home I DO have a small dog ( non shedding toy variety) and I keep things very clean. But it wouldnt be good biz..to have one in the shop but I honestly think People are more of a safety risk than animals..(ewww...unless we are talking mice and bugs)...

EDITED TO ADD: Yeah, I think I am done with this topic as well...lol...funny the original poster ( who I am sure wasnt expecting this) hasnt said anything else...but the rest of us cant shut up...lmaooooooooooooo

OMG! i have a cat that likes buttercream! I have never seen a cat eat crisco before though! LOL
I know I would've been shocked!

(sorry everyone highjacked your thread! LOL)
you guys are silly!