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This confirmed the state of panic among consumers as rice prices soar in line with energy prices.

I can't help feeling sorry for dog and cat owners because the animals, like humans, also need to eat rice (if the owners cannot afford more fancy pet food).

Chief among animal lovers is General Chamlong Srimuang. No matter the low profile he has been keeping these days at his school in Kanchanaburi, the former Bangkok governor has to scratch his very short-haired head when thinking about the 2,500 dogs and cats residing at his wife's animal foundation near his school.

For years, Chamlong has been taking care of these animals, some transferred from his Bangkok residence. Before, the dogs were fed twice a day - morning and noon. But now that the rice price has doubled from last year, the dogs receive food only once a day.

"They won't die," he said during an interview. "I also eat once a day. At times like these, they should live like their owners."

Certainly, if those dogs ate twice a day as usual, the owner would be the first to die as white rice is above Bt10,000 per tonne, or above Bt100 per kilo.

Chamlong has survived on one meal a day for years, like many followers of the Santi Asoke group who consider food as a life necessity, not something luxurious.

The true follower of the sufficiency philosophy also believes that humans should not be attached to luxurious lifestyles, no matter how rich they are.

Chamlong himself made it known long ago that in daily bathing routines, he consumes only three small bowls of water. The first is for soaking the face and body. After lathering with soap, two more bowls of water are used to rinse the body.

The reporters who interviewed him that day did not dare to ask whether he commanded all his dogs to follow his bathing habits. By the way, it could be easier for the dogs to go to a nearby pond if they need to clean up. I guess that dogs mind less about cleanliness than a full stomach.