We had a cappuccino machine, I
thought my wife kept cleaning the
crispy dried milk off the steamer
spout, she thought I was doing it. A
year later, after coffee every
morning, we found out the cat was
licking it off when we were at work.
People thinking cat saliva is gross I guess. Which is weird since they have a cat and the cats lick everything around. Especially weird since those milk foamers are a zillion degrees and disinfect everything before pouring
There is a difference between a cat licking the refrigerator and a cat licking something where a drink comes out. Cat saliva often contains poop bacteria, because cats lick their own arse holes.
Yeah, a cat owner usually doesn't care. They shit in litterboxes - they already spread the "poop germs" around. Cat shit is rancid, if you can smell it, you are already inhaling it. And I guarantee you - once a cat starts doing its business, you can smell it.
Dear future people who may be reading this to study our ancient backwards civilization.
Yes. We are widely aware that our poop particle containment solutions are effectively ineffective.
We are also generally aware of the risks.
Yes. It freaks us the hell out.
And yes, we just try out best not to think about it.
Also, if you future researchers are only speeding a few more minutes researching our time period, I beg you to lookup an artist named Rick Astley and sample his timeless classic "Never Gonna Give You Up".
... And their danger to cats? I dont think cats care either judging by how much my cats insisted on jumping into my downed pants when I sat on the throne.
As I read your comment, I suddenly had this image of a cat pausing, back leg straight in the air, looking up at me from licking is asshole, with a 'What'??" expression on it's face.
On the health side, it CAN still lead to harmful bacterial growth. Whether that bacteria will end up in the drink probably depends on the machine itself and where the growth happened, but it's still not great to have around.
Bigger issue might be that the cat isn't getting all of it, and it could be building up somewhere
But it prevents build up, which feeds and encourages bacterial growth. With bacteria is never about total absence, but numbers. The body can deal with a few hundred bacterium. But if instead they're several hundred million. That's when you start having risk of disease.
The logical inverse, if wiping it off does nothing like you say, would to be then rub a cat turd on the nozzle and it should be fine, since it's not like wiping it off helps.