this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2025
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The nonstick surface?
Yes! I've tried all the others, ceramic included.. nothing beats cared-for cast iron. Yes, you use more oil. Yes, you've gotta reseason it once every few years.
I always rolled my eyes at the cast iron zealots on Reddit, but with pets in the house, and cooking a lot, it just works.
'but with pets in the house, and cooking a lot, it just works.'
Could you explain this bit please? I'm at a loss to see how this involves my cat.
Edit, I have some cast iron, but my wife can't lift it. And NGL as I age it's getting a bit heavier for me and I can see a point where I'll not be too happy lugging it from cupboard to stove.
I think carbon steel may come to my rescue there - just cannot afford it at the moment. My Christmas list is stuck between a pressure washer and a carbon steel pan that was mentioned on here a short while ago. A German brand.
From one of the manufacturers: https://support.farberwarecookware.com/support/solutions/articles/65000168119-is-nonstick-cookware-harmful-to-my-pets-
Long story short, accidentally burning a PTFE coated pan will release chemicals that are bad for you and your pet. No matter how that manufacturer softballed the answer, it's right there: the fumes of overheated plastic are harmful.
You weigh much more than your pet, so the time it takes for the resulting toxins to approach LD50 for a human are quite long.
Zipping a smaller, faster breathing pet's blood levels up to fatal are unfortunately much easier, almost by an order of magnitude depending on the pet. That article references birds as most sensitive (see: canaries in coal mines), but dogs and such being close to the floor will also get a lot of exposure to the heavy gas particles.