topher@cyb-eng.UUCP (Topher Eliot) (10/11/85)
I got LOTS of responses telling me not to put kitty litter in the compost heap. This, believe it or not, is just a small summary, along with one other note: > Extracted from "The Rodale Guide to Composting", > quoting Harold S. Perimutter, M.D., of Newtom, New Jersey: > > "Cat dropping harbor two extremely dangerous organisms, both of which > are prominent causes of blindness, especially in children." > ... > "The most common cause of retinal inflammation in this country is due > to the one-celled parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, which is carried by the > cat and excreted in its droppings. ... It causes a flu-like illness in > pregnant women and can be transmitted to the unborn fetus, causing both > brain and eye disease. > The second organism is Toxocara cati, which is a nematode (round worm) > of extremely common occurence in cats. ... cause infection in many organs, > including the eyes." > ... > "I, therefore, urge that cat droppings and litter material be handled > with extreme caution, if at all." > The disease that you are all talking about in conjunction with the > litter box and pregnant women is toxoplasmosis. It is carried by the litter > but according to my sources is not a danger until the feces has been stting > around for over 24 hours thus "scooping" the box every day makes the chances > of infection very slim. Not only that, but not all cat feces carries this > disease. It is transmitted to cats through raw meat. SO if your cat is an > indoor cat who cannot catch birda and mice and so on and you don't feed it > raw meat, I wouldn't worry about it. (Although, if I ever get pregnant, you > can sure bet that I'll use it as an excuse not to do the litter boxes!) > AS far as the compost is concerned, diseases aside, I don't think the cat > poop will do anything but bad. As I understand it, herbivore manure, > particularly cow and horse are good but carnivores are no good and omnivores are > almost as bad. > ... the litter you use for her box functions by drying the fecal > matter. This is like little non-biodegradable rocks. A sewage engineer > at an SCA event scolded me for placing the little morsels in the bowl > intended for humans. They apparently block screens and sewage control > equipment that is inteded to clean heavy nasties from the H2O. > ... you may be attracting other cats in the > neighborhood for romance or fights. > Ix nay nix on the kitty pix. > ... > My advice is get a chicken for a pet. There were at least four other similar responses. And along with all the above, we have one of one of the ==FLAME ON== stereotypical responses from a netter who doesn't really know what (s)he is talking about, but just HAS to answer every question that comes down the pike (at least this one came via mail, as I recall. Most of those Bozos post their guesses). > I don't see any problem with "adding" to your > compost heap except that you're likely to attract > some of the neighborhood cats investigating > the smell. ==FLAME OFF== As you might imagine, my kitty poop is going out in the garbage. Marmalade is into the arching-her-back-and-bouncing-around-on-tippytoes phase now. Unbearably cute. Cheers, Topher Eliot Cyb Systems, Austin, TX (512) 458-6609 {gatech,harvard,ihnp4,nbires,seismo,ucb-vax}!ut-sally!cyb-eng!topher
xchar@mtuxo.UUCP (Charles S. Harris) (10/15/85)
..
What about dog doo in the compost heap?
--Charlie Harris, AT&T Information Systems, Lincroft, NJ 07738
(mtuxo!xchar)larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman) (10/26/85)
> I got LOTS of responses telling me not to put kitty litter in the compost > heap. This, believe it or not, is just a small summary, along with one > other note: > ... > > ... the litter you use for her box functions by drying the fecal > > matter. This is like little non-biodegradable rocks. A sewage engineer > > at an SCA event scolded me for placing the little morsels in the bowl > > intended for humans. They apparently block screens and sewage control > > equipment that is inteded to clean heavy nasties from the H2O. > ... If that doesn't beat all for being the stupidest thing that an alleged `engineer' has ever said! I might be a little concerned about blocking my indoor plumbing if a whole litterbox were dumped in the toilet, but mere litterbox `gleanings' sure as hell ain't gonna hurt a multi-MGD sewage treatment plant! Even if *LOTS* of people starting flushing their litterbox gleanings... === Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp., Clarence, New York === === UUCP {decvax,dual,rocksanne,rocksvax,watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry === === VOICE 716/741-9185 {rice,shell}!baylor!/ === === FAX 716/741-9635 {AT&T 3510D} syr!buf!/ === === TELEX 69-71461 ansbak: ELGECOMCLR {via WUI} ihnp4!/ === === === === "Have you hugged your cat today?" ===