Why this is another hot-button debate is totally lost on me. Everything I've read cautions against composting dog and cat feces. Why would it be OK to allow a direct deposit in your garden? If cats are using your garden for a toilet, you are well within your rights to take measures that keep them out.

For me, Neighbor Peace is more important than World Peace.

I get very cranky at my cat Samuel E. Fermi for pooping in my beds. I have two effective anti-cat techniques:

1) After tilling and planting, I lay cheap pigwire or concrete reinforcing wire on the surface of the bed. This also prevents the raccoons and oppossums from digging in the beds and uprooting all of the seedlings.

2) I use old rose canes as kitty pongee-sticks if I can't fit the wire in a space. This also prevents the chickens from scratching up the seedlings.

Renee

I agree, Ruthie and Anney. And LOL...as if a cat can't get under a house where the poison is...or a child for that matter. My mother's cats spend hours and hours poking around under her house.

Not too bright folks.

Curiosity might literally kill this poor cat...or cat(s) should I say, dogs, etc, etc. Stop and think ~ which is worse, having to simply wash your squash...maybe scoop the occasional poop, OR killing a harmless neighborhood cat, and creating a public health risk...

From what I understand about lots of those poisons is when it kills the mouse, then a cat eats that mouse and gets sick or dies, or a snake eats the mouse and it kills the snake. Then a bird eats the snake or cat and gets sick and dies.

I wish cats were the only thing using my garden, we have a wide range of critters here, and I live in the city. I would much rather have cats than the possum, racoons, groundhogs or skunks that come to eat my garden every year. And I am sure they poop in there also. Birds also use my garden every year. Yep I will take a neighbors cat...
Sandy

Well Ive always read no dog or cat poop in compost so hopefully above mentioned solution works. I have learned if you let one cat poop in any place more will come becuase they think its right. On the outside chance the sprinklers dont work (and I believe they will) i would remove all poop put in a can with lid and when full dump on negiebors front steps especially if you have talked to them about the problem. Just my opinion.

Mark

Cats belong inside... if you let them wander onto my property YOU are giving me permission to kill them, I dont like cats, what gives YOU the right to let them come into my yard and hunt my birds and defecate in my gardens... I dont dont come poop on your front steps.... maybe I should
. I keep my dogs in my yard or on a leash and clean up after them if they make a mess somewhere else
some seeds I plant arent cheap and i have lost as many as half of my lettuce, greens and peas due to cats digging in my soil that I have spent many hours and many dollars building up.... also, tricomonasis is a very real threat, if i was to lose a baby to it, I am not sure what I would due to the neighbors who let their cats roam

to the original poster.... S.S.S. Shoot, Shovel, Shutup

I automatically (right or wrong) assume that a cat that is allowed to roam freely is much more likely to be infected with problems that can be passed along in feces. Bacterial diseases and parasites are high on the list.

If this were my problem, I'd inform the neighbors (politely) of what their cats are doing and of your concerns. Tell them that you are using poisons under your home. Tell them, also, that if they continue using your garden as their toilet bowl, that you will trap them and take them to the pound.

There isn't a problem at all, just pick the leaves off the plant when it gets big enough. Peas come from a flower that hasn't even developed yet. You are over reacting. There are worse animals that can do worse damage.

Good luck on your peas!

It's so funny that every year right at the beginning of the season someone comes here and starts this old worn out debate...they tell you all the stuff they are using to rid themselves of the pests but then questioned, it becomes a very different story...and that person usually has almost no history on any of the gardening boards...what's up with that..They know every horrible cat story from their neighbor hood and on the local news..Poison under the house doesn't mean that an animal lunches at your counter and dies immediately...It's probably going to die in your garden. If you have done all that research from every imaginable sight, what was the purpose of the post here...are you our yearly "lets do the cat doo doo post and get everyone riled up?

Good points Ruthie - as all the previous debates on this issue show. If it isn't here it is on the Composting Forum where, by the way, there are just as many research links posted on how to safely compost pet waste. And whether cats should be indoor animals or not has nothing to do with the issue at hand.

It's is an emotional topic - whether the rights and lives of animals exceed the rights and lives of lettuce seedlings. ;)

But if people would only learn about the built in filtering system of plants and practice normal garden hygiene there'd be no problems and no concerns. No your crops don't automatically absorb everything that is in the soil or we'd all be dead. No, zoonotic diseases are not confined to only cats and dogs. They also exist in squirrels, rabbits, rats, armadillos, possums, skunks, birds, etc. all of which poop in your garden. Not to mention hornworms - man do they poop!! Going to trap them all?

And most importantly, none of them are nearly as common or as serious a threat as the many poisons and insecticides so many think nothing of using in the garden.

Common sense should prevail in gardening and it should be fun. But it isn't a sterile environment so bacteria-phobes will never be happy gardeners.

Dave

I know it has been a while since I said good night but I can't believe there is stll a debate about this subject. I did check out the "scarecrow" and I do not want to get a lawsuit from it spraying everyone that walks by my house. I even bothered to read the reviews which stated that it goes off for no reason. I guess some folks can't read the links I posted, Some folks out there just don't trust all that "science and whatnot" they are teaching at Washington State University (first link) or University of Pittsburgh(second link). They still think cat feces is good in your garden. Unbelievable. But then again, there are some folks way out there that don't think we ever landed on the moon also. Let me clear up a few points so the arguement can continue. When buying a house in a county which is one of the top wealthiest in the US, the bank FORCES you to buy a annual contract with the pest KILLER of your choice. The murderers we chose were terminix I am sure even you folks way out there have heard of them. No one can fit under the house unless they are small like a pest. So far all neighborhood children are ok. None poisioned! or my daughter which "flora" is so kind as to instruct me how to raise her....NOT! So who is neurotic? You are plain ignorant, you do not know me! so leave your psychiatric assesment somewhere else. Go and dine on some catfeces, and give someone else your parenting advise..brdldy go sue orkin and terminix for murdering all these pests I am sure you can find a good lawyer. With your same argue ment a free roam cat eats the mouse with the deadly "bug" then the bug and feces lands in your garden, then you eat the "bug" and that is using your arguement right off the universitys link I posted read it if you can!!! Also a plus for living in such a upper class county there is a law, if you are caught not picking up after your pet you get a 250 dollar fine for each crap that is caught on tape. I can go that route all it would take is my husband repositioning the surveillance camera. I still like S.S.S. advise Alanis & also the can o' poop on the stoop, Mark! To all of you who think cat feces in your garden is just swell, look into "humanure" and poop in your own garden!

Ruthie you have no business in stalking me or my "history on these boards" I have been posting here since 2006, but not 20 times a day, as I unlike u have a life.

As I stated before I would rather believe a University before some yokels on a forum. I said I was sorry for asking here! For even thinking gardeners may have the answer, boy was I wrong just a bunch of cyberbullys looking for an arguement. Read my links. I know you didn't. Go ahead, gain some knowledge, the mind you expand could be your own. And it is more than some lettuce seedlings at stake I hope no one is pregnant eating cat feces out of your garden, it is dangerous to the unborn fetus....but you didn't know that did you, you didn't read the links.

Meltdown!

Wow. Sorry, jewelbettle, but that last series of comments makes you look like a right psycho.

That being said, there is actually a small risk of toxoplasmosis from cats crapping in your garden. I do agree with others that the idea of purposely harming someone else's pet (or allowing it to come to harm) is repellant, but I also agree that pet owners should take responsibility for the safety of their pets, and in suburban areas, keep them safely indoors.

I recommend using rose canes or other prickly things as barriers to keep the cat out of your garden beds, AND talking to the neighbor about keeping their pet indoors.

Cat poop tends to only be a danger when it contacts the food directly, and that can be washed off.

I met a person some years ago that was concerned about bacteria and parasites being absorbed by the plants and the contamination growing inside the fruit or vegetable, and that does NOT happen, it's only a contact issue.

Be very careful with poisons, esp if you have small children. There was an incident where some poisoned bait was put under a house, and some animal dragged it out and left it exposed, and a child got hold of it. She didn't die, but it was a near thing. You know how little kids put everything into their mouths.

The Scarecrow Motion-Activated Sprinkler is just a sprinkler that you push into the ground and when it goes off it also makes a kind of clattery sound. It's adjustable and you can aim it where you need it. It usually scares the cats enough to train them to stay away. Works on other animals, too, like rabbits and deer.

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: Scarecrow Motion-Activated Sprinkler

You are saying it's lettuce, but she says it 's peas, aw peas. For Christ sake, just take off the leaves effected when the plant is strong enough. If you want to be sure of no infection, put good bacteria like compost over the dirt where the cat pooped and sprinkle it on the leaf, like powdering, not burying, over the infected plant.

Penicillin is a mold that saved millions, cheese is a mold we eat every day, wine is a mold and it has amazing health benefits if it's not over used, and you heard of VRE? A staff like infection you get from over use of antibiotics! Antibiotics are almost incapable of curing it, but time does work it's magic, so it's not permanent, but my point with this is antibiotics over clean your body so much it endangers you more than your original diseases. Don't be obsessive with cleanliness in a garden, but don't breed roaches either.

No doubt a cat can carry a disease, but you can't live in a plastic bubble. Animals help in many other ways, so she's got to maybe get a cage to catch the kitty or scare it away with a dog! No point in killing the cat, that is just mean and senseless. Retribution on a cat just doing what it does naturally is not fair. It doesn't know any better.

A motion sensored sprinkler will get rid of it permanently. Cats hate water.

As a realitive newbie, I have only searched the garden site occasionally on a few topics that I needed a quick answer for -- I spend most time on the quilt forum. Since it is now the prepping/planting season I have switched over & plan to spend more time here for awhile. That being said--I have to say I have laughed outloud so much that my family had to some see what I was up to! (Some) of you are a hoot!! Some of you are a little on the snotty/mean side!! And even more of you I wish were my neighbors!! (many from the 1st referenced group, none from the 2nd, sorry. I'm counting my blessings that I'm NOT so blessed as to live in a certain county.)
Due to time constraints I won't comment on even the posts that I'd like to, let alone the ones most of us wish could be deleted. Suffice it to say---when I have xtra time or need my spirits boosted, I'll be sure to come visit you all again! What a riot!! Pleasant dreams everyone:-)

Goodness me, jewelbeetle. What an astonishing set of contributions. Did you notice in my first line the words 'I think a bit of balance might be handy'? Did you notice me agreeing with you about cat crap? Did you notice me referring to toxoplasmosis? Did you notice my and other peoples' positive suggestions for keeping cats out? Did you notice .... oh never mind, it's clearly a losing battle.

ROFLMAO is not an acronym I would normally use but here, for the first time ever in many years of posting, I feel it is truly merited. Quite a coup - I have earned my first ever personal diatribe AND I get to have inverted commas. I am now the evil 'Flora' masquerading behind a false id, unlike everyone else here, jewelbeetle. But next time could you use paragraphs and punctuation so I know exactly which comments are for me and which are just general? I'd like to appreciate the full flavour of my own personal insults.

quiltpartner - this is a humdinger - it's not usually this much fun.

'Flora'

Beetle dung also shows up in gardens, along with the poop of earthworms, mealy worms, hornworms, earworms, cutworms, army worms, wireworms, grasshoppers, cucumber beetles, potato beetles, June beetles, curculio beetles, Japanese beetles, slugs, snails, weevils, aphids, scale insects, loopers, maggots, flies, fleas, mites, wasps, moths, bees, ants, gnats, leaf-hoppers, leaf-miners, borers, stinkbugs, squash bugs, caterpillars, birds, mice, chipmunks, squirrels, rats, dogs, raccoons, deer, elk, cows, horses, groundhogs, snakes, toads, frogs.

Others may want to add to the list. I forgot nematodes.

After you clean up your OWN poop in the garden, JewelBeetle, I suggest that you take a shotgun out there and stay 24 hours a day and be forced to shoot each one of these poop violators of your garden. You must be inventive to kill all the earthworms and other critters that live under the surface of the soil. You must stay alert to all the insects above-ground and wear magnifying goggles for most of them. Night goggles after the sun goes down.

You're going to be busy.

Hi Jewel,
I have a question. Have you talked to your neighbor about their cat? I don't recall you ever saying whether you had or not. Does your neighborhood have a pet policy? If so, and you have talked to your neighbor, then perhaps it's time to complain to the neighborhood "police". I have been plagued in the past by the animals of my neighbors. I live in a rural area, and keep my dogs in a six foot chainlink fence. I had a female bloodhound that wasn't spayed because we chose not to (she died of old age never having had a litter of pups). One of my neighbors sneaky little beagles kept coming and digging into her pen. We spoke to them about him and asked them to keep him away for the duration of her heat cycle, they put him on a chain. It was that easy. As for not having her spayed, I hold the belief that if women have so many problems after they have a hysterectomy, then what am I doing to my dog by having her spayed? We chose not to, and through responsible pet ownership, prevented it from happening. We kept an electric fence on the outside to keep amorous males from entering, except, of course, for one smitten beagle. I think that by saying that you are going to trap the animal you are speaking out of anger and not thinking of the rational approach. Seeds are expensive, but much more so is the court costs associated with harming someone's pet. You never said you were going to shoot it, until your later comments. As far as eating the produce from you garden is concerned, I tend to agree with everyone here, just wash it and you should be fine.

I have had a good laugh reading the comments on this thread. You guys are pretty hilarious!
Have a good day!!
Norma

greetings from a not-so-wealthy county in the US. I can't wait for this thread to slip to page 2. Jewel has made it clear that she likes her poop in small chunks, bite sized or less. Electric fences keep out mammals larger than a mouse, whether poopers or eaters (sadly, you can't exclude the latter without excluding the former), and cost 20 bucks. The lovely salt-and-pepper bird contributions to new lettuce have not been proven to carry any disease by any university.

Let us also not mention what many forum contributors do to add nitrogen to their garden, or the thread will never end. They are all organic extremists of course.

Hi you all back again for more poop? Who read the links? No one? Good still ignorant. Now let me repeat myself for the slow ones.
1. I never said I am going to shoot anything. Early comments or later comments never said it. I am a cat owner. I love animals.
2. I never said I am wealthy I live in the poorest section of Howard County Md. I work hard for my money.
3. Flora, sorry, another comma, I am not so good with writing (I work construction don't write much) I read your post, glad you agreed and all, but you have no business with your parenting advise, thats all.
4. Yeah I was mad and came here to vent as well as get some advise at first. If that makes me a psycho, well then I guess none of you have ever been passionbate about gardening.
5. And scarletdasies, it was Raw peas, so sorry I dropped an R. I also have spinach and lettuce sprouts, so now not only am I a neurotic psycho gardener I am a letter-dropping idiot! My 5 year old daughter loves eating RAW peas out of the garden!!!!
3. The bank makes you get Terminix or simular for new construction, they do what they do and the are not killing off children. I am not trying to poision anything personally, I have not even seen or touched the poision.
4. Excerpt from University of Pittsburgh link since no one read it. "Cats become infected when they eat raw meat, usually a mouse, infected with T. gondii cysts. Sometime from a few days to 3 weeks after eating an infected animal, the cat will begin to shed oocysts in its feces. The cat will continue to shed oocysts in it's feces for 3-15 days, after which time it will stop shedding the organism in it's feces and will no longer be a hazard.
If a woman who has not previously been infected with T. gondii becomes infected while she is pregnant, there is a significant chance that the organism will produce severe neurological damage in the developing fetus. T. gondii is also a special risk in the case of individuals that may have weakened immune systems, such as individuals receiving cancer or transplant therapy or individuals that are positive for HIV."
5. Anney I have no problem with any of the poop you mentioned except the maggot poop. Cat, Dog, Pidgeon & Human poop I dont like. I down right love bunny, cow, horse and bat poop! Ponder that, willya.
6. Hope that is enough for you I have to go and untwist my nickers.

"I have to go and untwist my nickers."

This might take a while...

LOL Anney! That is what I was going to say, all kinds of living organisms in the garden, pooping 'round the clock!

I'm with quiltpartner on this one. I'm a newbie on here, mostly just lurking and learning. But I must say, this is one of the most entertaining threads I've ever followed on ANY forum!
Jewel, hang in there. I'd be angry at the neighbors cat pooping in my garden too!
As it is, this season I'll think about you all daily as I negotiate the neighbor's "free range" dog's land mines strewn across MY yard as I make my way to the garden and recall the "Great Poop Debate of 2010"! LOL!

Easy.

Put a covered litter box in your yard, and every week you can have the pleasure of tossing the contents over the fence into the neighbours garden.

Wha-la!

"Let us also not mention what many forum contributors do to add nitrogen to their garden..."

But surely we should acknowledge the nitrogen contribution the cat is making, 'cause if it's pooping in the garden it's bound to be weeing as well.

At least the cat isn't frightening the postman by pouring a bucket of menstrual blood and urine onto the soil of the front border...Ah, those organic extremists...!

jewelbeetle,

It probably wouldn't be a bad idea for you to actually attend a college or university since you can't even spell vegetable correctly!!

*best gardening troll thread ever*

We used to have a feral cat in the neighborhood. It was great. Then some overly zealous neighbor turned it in to animal control. Now our yards are over run with bunnies and most things we plant turn into a fresh salad bowl for the damn bunnies. And I keep finding mice in the basement.

I would gladly put up with cat poop and some dead half eaten bunnies at this point...

Never been a fan of pets but cats do have their perks.

Just to add, we've been eating the garlic greens and mint leaves direct from my own cat poop-amended backyard garden. I know because I started the garden last month, and tilling though I discovered at least one smelly clump down several inches. I just clean my herbs with a bit of ammonia and water, scrubbing and rinsing and no one's gotten sick yet.

Long live the feline species!

Food for thought http://www.seattle.gov/util/EnvironmentConservation/MyHome/PreventPollution/PetWaste/index.htm

Also, anyone feel that even if it's not harmful (which it is), the fact that it's just gross is enough? I don't wish my neighbor's cats ill, but it's hard not to curse them when I'm weeding and fresh poop squishes through my fingers (gloves or no gloves), or my daughter pulls a carrot and it's got a nice big cat turd clinging to it.

And then there's the time I spend shoveling and sifting poo out of my garden when I'd rather be, you know, gardening. I respect the right of wild animals to do what they need to do where they want to do it. I'm an invader in their territory and they don't have owners who are supposed to be responsible for them. But should I really have to clean up my neighbors' pets' poop? Or spend time and money trying to keep their pets out of my (fenced) yard?

And maybe it's primadonna-ish of me, but I don't want to have to meticulously wash my veggies when one of the great joys of home gardening is eating something straight off the plant. Not sure why it's considered no big deal and just another part of gardening by so many here. Is it a cat-lover thing? Why is a cat the only pet we accept this from? What if it were dog poop?

Solution? City/suburban cats should be kept inside (or, yeah, it looks crazy, but walk them on a leash). There's some die-hard romance about the idea of the free-roaming cat - and, honestly, I like seeing them around - but enough's enough with the poop and dead birds. Time for a paradigm shift. Love your kitty cats inside.

A few years ago, some "not very responsible" neighbors let their cats have a couple of litters of kittens that gravitated to our property for some reason.

Our county Animal control offers free spay/chip/vaccine to be returned as "barn cats"

We have 1/2 dozen cats that we feed (minimally) and have no voles, moles, gophers left to worry about!

We have tried wire over our garden beds, but that makes it difficult to weed. Cardboard is my favorite to cover my beds with holes for the plants to grow through.The plants usually cover most of the beds eventually, so they aren't too ugly.

We're trying weed cloth for most of the beds this year.

The only bed we can't use cardboard or weed cloth is our asparagus bed. We used forks from a bulk store (about $5) and the cats have stayed out of the bed!

We have also used from freecycle bamboo shoots in the flowers around the vege beds, nice and pokey!

Please, Jewel, settle down and get into a gardener mindset. Most of us who are not farmers (who I totally respect!) are in this, not for the "save a penny" (as discussed before!), but for loving as natural/organic as possible, doing best for our families and , in my case kinda getting into a zen state.

I was not able to go into your links because I live in the country where we get limited data, but reading the other stuff, you are going straight by the links and not listening to our feedback.

Please embrace gardening and stop this crazy mess! Nancy

People, the last time jewel posted in this thread was SIX years ago! Enough, already.

I'm always surprised by people who kinda freak out about dog and cat droppings. I'd be very surprised if the risks of those are a lot greater than for rodent (e.g. squirrel), bat, and bird poop. We get regularly showered on with the latter which, especially when it's dry and flapping on leaves ends up pretty much as airborne dust which we breathe, and it's over all of our plants. We regularly step in the former, though it isn't quite as obvious as when we do so in the latter.

rhizo_1 Yep. Cats are still pooping in gardens six years later. And it's still gross. And this thread's still on the Internet and still open. First page Google search today. Not sure why you're bothering to read it unless you also shoveled two grocery bags of neighborhood cat scat out of your tomato beds like I did today. What's your particular frustration with people being frustrated by this?

daninthedirt, this isn't a case wrongly perceived risk (though toxoplasmosis does kill people). I'm just extremely grossed out. I don't know what cat poop's like in Texas, but here it's smelly, squishy and often covered in flies. And six inches deep in my vegetable garden. I'm having a hard time understanding why so many people blow this off as part of nature. These are people's licensed, micro-chipped pets, not wild animals. Anyway, guess the thread should die. But cat poop lives on.

Our feral (fixed) cat does that all of the time. We have a buffer zone tilled around the garden where we don't plant anything. She only goes in that area.

Let's be clear. Toxoplasmosis from cat feces does kill people, but
Hantavirus, LCMV, Salmonellosis and Histoplasmosis from rodent and bird
feces ain't too good for you either. (That's the short list of risks
from bird and rodent feces.) If you have six inches of cat poop in your
garden, your problem is less a cat pooping and more LOTS AND LOTS of cats pooping. That's
an unusual problem.

Wash your hands after you garden. Always.

I do wash hands, but don't like worrying about kids. Also, it's a dry area and when I dig/sift the stuff out there's often a lot of dust and I'm sure it gets aerosolized. I dampen the ground, but then it's harder to find the poop and it gets mushier. I also wear a mask. I'm sure I'm a toxo carrier anyway, at this point (in a bit of irony, I'll probably therefore end up a crazy cat lady:)

My main issue is that it's really, really gross (I mean, you can't seriously equate it with bird poop or rodent pellets unless you haven't seen or handled it) and time-consuming to remove it. And, yeah, lots and lots of free-roaming cats in the urban neighborhood where I live (non-feral), so doubtless there are late-night poop parties chez moi.

Lastly, I still think there's a strong distinction to be made between wild animal poop in your yard and other people's wandering, carnivorous pets' poop in your yard. Sure, both can carry disease, but cats are the responsibility of humans who choose to house and own them. Who's responsible for the crows, mice, sparrows...? Actually, speaking of rodents, it's illegal in our area to do things that attracts rats - like feed them, leave chicken feed out. Also discouraged to feed pets outside. And we're advised that leaving pet poop attracts rodents. So measures are taken through ordinance to limit the damage from "wild" (if you can call rats truly wild) rodents. Why not the domestic cat? I'd just really prefer their poop not to be my responsibility.

Btw, I've got nothing against cats. Grew up with a wandering tomcat named Violet. Best of friends:) And I'm sure he pooped all over town.

When this discussion isn't completely crazy, I think it's interesting on all sorts of levels. Something I can obviously nerd out on.

That's all sensible. But if you had a lot of rodents or birds or bats, it would be just as gross. I guess you just happen to have a lot of cats. But I think poop falling from the sky and blowing in the wind is pretty gross too. You can't even avoid that.

Unfortunately, I don't think there is a distinction between wild animal poop and feline poop in your yard. Yes, cats are the responsibility of humans (well, except for truly feral cats), but those particular humans are, I guess, just irresponsible in that they are declaring their pet to be quasi-feral. Dogs used to be just as nasty, but now, in well-regulated urban environments at least, people are walking behind them with plastic bags.

There is a lot of nervous energy these days about risks from cat poop. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that cats are, well, pets, and pets ought to be nice enough not to be deadly. But rodents, birds, and bats are wild. That gives them permission to be deadly.

You might want to think about why so many cats seem to like your garden bed. There are repellents that seem to work.

Hahaha, I was actually thinking about you (jewel) continuing to be dragged into a most unpleasant thread. Now I see the error of my thought process!

By all means, carry on!

I'm on it with repellents. Did bamboo skewers last year, but after a while cats just started pooping between them (kind of got to admire that). Going to try chicken wire, rue and bobcat urine dispensers (I hope it's not as stinky as the coyote pee my mom tried for rabbits). And will have to remember to keep repelling during the winter.

We'll have to agree to disagree about the gross-factor of cat poop v. bird, bat, etc. And about the shrugging off of pet owners' irresponsibility. Honestly, I think most just don't know and should be educated/encouraged to take measures to limit the problem, as we did with dogs. Though I understand it won't be eradicated any time soon.

And, again, I'm not personally worried about disease. Dude, I raised a thumb-sucker in Africa:) I only bring up the disease part because it ties in to the pet owners' respnsibility. There is a known, sometimes deadly pathogen in their pet's feces. We can only do so much to control wild animal risks (and a lot is done, actually, to try to control honta and other diseases transmitted by animals, whether the through feces or other pathways), but pet owners *can* do something to control the risk from this pathogen (in fact, help reduce its prevalence), but they are not asked to or don't. I'm not sure why we've decided it's their right to possibly infect even one person at risk of death or sever illness from toxoplasmosis. I don't want to overstate the risk. It's, in the scheme of things, quite small. But, without being overly dramatic, that's not really a comfort to the individual mother who's lost a pregnancy or person who's lost an immuno-suppressed loved one.

I'm just saying, there are things that could be done besides having gardeners remove or repel the doo doo, and maybe we should think about doing them. Start by educating cat owners. Why not try?

Thanks for he discussion. It's allowed me to procrastinate quite nicely:) Hasta luego.

So jewel is now misswaterlow???

I was wondering who and why drug up this very old thread again. Now I know the answer. Everything that can be said on the topic has been said and a lot of what shouldn't have been said was said anyway.

Do what you wish in your own garden. That's your right. Please stop lecturing the rest of us just because we disagree with you. Move on.

Dave

I'm not Jewel. Never been on this site before. You're a very odd, hostile bunch for gardeners (not you, daninthedirt). I'm not sure why you care whether this thread is active or not. Have I said anything offensive? I said I think it's interesting. Are you required to read this? Maybe that's a houzz rule. In any case, I'll stop posting about it if you can't stay away, like cats to my garden, apparently. How unpleasant.

misswaterlow, I think the reaction you got here is from a heavily aged thread that people were a little tired of. I suspect a new thread might have been called for. Your problem is somewhat different than that of the 6 year old original poster. jewelbeetle was offended by cat poop which was interpreted as some thoroughly evil material. You're offended by a LOAD of cat poop. I probably would be too, and everyone else would be as well. Your post has that earlier thread riding on your shoulders, and you don't deserve to have it there.

I was sure they were one and the same....the personality seemed so similar. So sorry for the mistake.

I vote for your own brand new thread.