Is Your Cat Diner Up to Code?

By Darcy Lockman

You don't want to eat out of foul-smelling dishes on dirty tables and neither does your cat. If you think that human concerns like cleanliness don't cross a cat's mind, think again. "One of my cats is quite finicky," says 32-year-old cat owner Amy Morgan of Brooklyn, N.Y. "When she started flat-out refusing her food, though, I couldn't figure out why. A friend suggested I start cleaning her bowl after each meal. That did the trick -- she started eating normally again."

Restaurant owners and managers are well schooled in the strict safety codes that their kitchens must follow. To ensure that eateries adhere to these codes, many health departments require that restaurant employees take a city-sponsored food safety class. According to Vincent Delisi, who supervises restaurant inspectors in Austin, Texas, those classes offer information having to do with food handling and storage, as well as hygiene. When it comes to keeping human restaurants up to speed, "Education is critical," says Delisi. Here, with Delisi's input, we've designed a restaurant safety class for your furry friend's favorite caf