In what way is eating a dog or cat different from eating a cow?

Why the taboo about eating a cat or dog--when a much bigger much more useful animal like cow is eaten with impunity?

There is no difference. Meat is meat.
Cats and dogs are cute and get the sympathy vote as they are pets. Doesn't make sense to me either.

I don't know. It's all the same to me- it's WRONG!

I agree no difference except that dog is hot !!!!!!

By being closed minded. Ppl are like that sometimes... They eat shrimps but they won' t eat frogs... It's all in our head

it is not healthy to eat a carnivorous animal. the animal which eat meat carry more diseases. thereby we tend to eat only those animal which eat only plants.

I think it's just a psycological thing. here in america we see cats and dogs as friends or "little people" as some would say and dont think that they should be eatten but most people dont really care about cows and pigs as long as they get their food.

do you keep cows in your house as a pet? How would you like if someone came over and was like hey lets cook up spot on the gril its a moral thing.

Carniverous animals have bad tasting meat.

To me, it's the same thing. I have reverence for all living creatures, and I see them all as having the same life force, even the same as me. I have felt this way for a long time- I have been a vegetarian for 12 years.

Well, no offense, but in the American culture, dogs and cats are kept as pets. Cows are raised to produce milk or meat, its not raised with impunity, a cow is much more useful mass wise than a cat or a dog... It would take 200-300 cats to equal the meat in a cow.

I was going through all the answers.
Most of you have written as Dogs and Cats are pet you do not eat them.
There are so many more animal you do not keep as pet.
Will you eat Elephant, Zebra, Giraffe, Whale etc?

Also almost all Indian Muslims and Christians eat cow and cow is regarded as most respected PET in India. Many Hindus including me also eat cow.

The actual reason is in every different part of the earth we are habituated to eat different kind of animal. Its only habit and nothing else.

it is inhuman don't eat them

Obviously it's cultural. There's no actual moral difference between eating a cow and eating a cat.

In our culture a cat or dog is regarded as a pet, and thus afforded a sort of semi-human status morally. Eating one is psychologically like cannibalism, and thus taboo in our culture.

they provide less meet

the difference is only in some people narrow minds

when visiting china

Korea, Thailand,

dotn forget to try cat and dog, pretty yummy actually,

if well done

lol

3rd world tendencies

The smell itself while cooking would gag a maggot

Uh because we keep them as pet's & we don't breed em to eat em!

none really except the dog doesnt turn brown when cooked it stays kinda gray and cat is tough and gamey because of the fish flavors its raised on like a water moccasin or snake thats fed fish but your trying to say culturally any meat is murder and i like the things i eat i like steers denutted bulls are beef cattle and not cows they are for making little steers and mil;k not burgers and cat is an old food delicacy in the east but dog is the picnic of choice in korea and i was in the army and tasted all sorts of critters like in the swamps inrecon school

It has to do with domestication. Cats and dogs are more often pets than cows are. Once we all have a cow in the back yard, coming in at night to sleep in our beds, cows will become taboo to eat, too.

It's not healthy to eat carnivorous animals. They carry more diseases that we can catch.

in many countries cats and dogs are raised as cattle we here on the other use them for companions there for we tend to think of it as taboo but in the end it's not any different other than the taste

I have never had a cow as a pet. Or I wouldnt eat it either. Pets are in the house and become 1 of the family, you pet them ,care for them and they return the love.

For me, it goes to the Bible, specifically the OT books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus, where specific guidelines of what and what not to eat are laid out. Anything that chews cud and has a cloven hoof is safe to eat. God said it and I believe it. Anything without cloven hoof is not.

some will say it is in the bible. it really is, in the old testament, there is a strict list of what animals to eat. i think it is in Deuteronomy. but then the old testament is such a self-contradicting book, it is like a soap opera. a real joke. and this moses was a very funny and cunning guy. something is wrong there.

actually, initially there's a strict rule of what to eat.(genesis) it says only fruit that produces seed. a few chapters later, all these have gone down the drain, and Jews really build up a portable slaughterhouse. i am talking about blood, no jokes.if those are true, they must had been spending all day slaughtering. maybe this is the reason the world is suffering so many wars today. (this is also written in the genesis: do not shed any blood etc etc).

the new testament is completely different.

being vegan is the least we can do. then, we take it from there.

different social customs, habits, etc--- but broadly, very similar as a food!

Culture differreces,in a country i came from we eat dog and cats,tradionally.Its no taboo at all.

now, i do not eat cow, but if i did, i think it would have to do with the fact that i have grown up with cats and dogs as pets, aka family members. i suppose, if i had had a cow for a pet, i would feel the same for them as i do a cat or dog.

i totaly agree. i often wonder how they can look at a baby animal and say ahhh, so cute! then turn around and eat them as adults.

Dogs and cats are more susceptible to diseases harmful to humans than are beef cattle. This is true in part due to the fact that not only will they eat dead or decaying things such as other animals, but they will also eat their own and other animals excrement.