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Pets Can Keep Kosher Too! |
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 by Maya Wainhaus, April 22, 2008 |
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Just in time for Passover, lots of religious pet news! This week we learned that Pope Benedict XVI's loves cats -- he even has an authorized biography written by a furry friend named Chico who was his neighbor in Germany. The book is called “Joseph and Chico: The Life of Pope Benedict XVI as Told by a Cat" (as told to journalist Jeanne Perego).
As for Jewish furballs, a recent article at Petside.com suggests that Passover is the perfect time to have your pets keep kosher too. While the dogs at my seder (there were four!) seemed to enjoy a stray matzoh ball, the article doesn't offer much insight into KforP pet food. It does, however, provide some helpful hints for keeping Fido kosher the rest of the year:
The companies that now provide kosher kibble adhere to the strict separation of meat and dairy to qualify the food as kosher for animals. This does not make the pet food kosher for human consumption, and in a kosher household, the animal’s dish would have to be washed in a bathroom or laundry room sink, separate from the kosher supplies in the kitchen.
Of course, there are no Jewish laws stating that pets must keep kosher, but for pet owners, it can be a way to ensure that beloved dogs and cats are getting high quality food. In no time at all, they'll be ready for their Bark Mitzvahs.
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Maya Wainhaus is a writer, painter, Yankees fan and movie-musical enthusiast living in Brooklyn. She also writes a blog about tetris called Girls Play Tetris. More... |
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Yaakov
Gerbils and othe pet rodents
If you have a pet gerbil or other pet rodent, feel free to feed them lots of matza. It tastes exactly like the carboard paper roles that these animals love to chew on. We had a gerbil who thrived through five Passovers that way.
JessM
Nature vs. Kosher
Growing up, I had vegetarian neighbors who also kept their cats vegetarian. It was no surprise to anyone except them why their cats would go missing for days at a time, and then return with rodents in the mouths. I would not want to keep my cat a veggie for sheer worry that I'd get deceased treyf on my doorstep.
Anonymous
Nonkosher pet food
Pets do not need to be kosher, but Halacha (Jewish Law) forbids having any benefit from meat cooked with milk. Having food to give to your pet (or farm animal) is a benefit becaue then you don't have to buy other food.
So if your dog has found and is enjoying a cheeseburger, you are right, the dog doesn't have to keep kosher and you don't have to take it away, but you may not buy it for him, make it for him or give it to him.
Similarly, it is forbidden to own or derive any benefit from chometz (barley oats wheat rye or spelt which had contact with water and di not become matzah) so one may not give grain contianing pet food to one's animals on Passover
Anonymous
This Reminds Me...
This reminds me of the scene in the movie "Life is Beautiful" when the lead discovers his horse had been painted with anti-Semetic grafitti: "I didn't even know he was a practicing horse! [to the horse] Why didn't you tell me?!"
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