I don't have a cat, but when I give my birds cereal on top of their cage, it is usually in one of our plates. What are dishwashers for? But if I'm eating, and the tiels want to eat out of my plate while I'm eating from it, I don't let them. Everyone who comes to our house has seen those CorningWare plates that we use on top of the birds' cage, with the birds sitting IN it, eating cereal, and no one has ever commented on it. I'm surprised that even the non-animal people had nothing to say about it. Maybe they didn't notice, or maybe they thought we just have that one special plate for them. We don't. I just take any random plate out of the dishwasher while unloading it, and give them their cornflakes in it.