Cass' whiskers, like most cats, are extremely sensitive. I am always very careful when interacting with them, and at no point do I do anything that Cass finds uncomfortable. It's pretty easy to tell by his demeanor, but I wanted to include the disclaimer just in case.
I love to cook, but I struggle with chicken. We almost never buy and cook it, but I was excited about trying some new recipes and stuff, and I want to try to expand out of my comfort zone with new foods. So I had two chicken breasts in the freezer and I put them in the fridge to thaw. I know they are supposed to go on the lowest possible shelf, but that's where we put heavy things because the shelves are weak, plus it's harder for me to reach the lowest shelf, so I put them on the second lowest shelf, and then... they leaked. Not a ton, but enough to drip a tiny bit onto an unopened carton of oat milk that was sideways underneath it. I took them out to put them in a marinade and kinda freaked out a little bit. I scrubbed the shelf down, then I scrubbed the oat milk down with lysol wipes, three times. And then, the chicken just felt dangerous. I put it into a bag to marinade and I washed my hands every single time I did anything, even though I didn't touch the chicken again, but nothing felt like enough. I washed and washed my hands, but still wonder if I should throw away the head of garlic or the fresh parsley I handled. I was going to cook other things, but decided to just put everything in the sink, wipe the counters down with more lysol wipes, and call it a night. It was just too stressful and the fear of contamination felt too big. Like, I washed my hands at least 10-15 times. My fingers were starting to prune.
Anyway, I'm realizing I don't actually understand how dangerous raw chicken is, and it's something I need to take some time to learn about so it stops being so scary. But I don't know when I'll actually get to that. I'm overwhelmed with work and selling my home and a bunch of other things. So if anyone happens to be a food safety person or chef or other knowledgeable resource and has the time and energy to share facts about how safe or unsafe raw chicken is, that would be so incredibly appreciated.
Fwiw, I can cook with every other kind of raw meat without issues, and I love cooking. I know general food safety and know that the existence of raw chicken in my kitchen isn't the end of the world, but the fact that it leaked a tiny bit in my fridge put me into panic mode. 😭 It's so exhausting, and it feels so dumb, like I should be better than this. Just feeling a little defeated by this.
Thank you for the help
These side whiskers are almost the size of normal cat whiskers. I love them so much.
This is Ugly Casanova. Usually my husband posts pictures of him, but this one was just too good.