Composting

Debt_Free_Chick

Lucie wrote:

I too am of the understanding that you shouldn't compost faeces of meat eaters. I put the contents of my rabbit's litter tray in the compost bin, but as rabbits are vegetarian this is OK.
Is this right?

According to the HDRA, yes A list of do's & don'ts here

Rabbit waste is no different to farmyard, horse or chicken manure. As you say, I think it's do with the diet of the animal i.e. no mess from meat eaters.

apprentice_tycoon

Debt_Free_Chick wrote:

Are you saying that your cats don't use the litter at all? If so, then OK to compost. If not, don't compost cat or dog faeces, if you use the compost for the vegetable garden. Too big a risk of toxicara and other nasties, that can cause illness in humans.

Sorry if I've got it wrong - just want to be sure that others understand

The litter tray is used just at night so it is just the odd poo, but I still can't see the difference between her 'going' on the veg garden (this is only when there are no crops on it in the winter, it has fleece and cloches on when there are young plants and when they come off the plants are too large for her to get amongst).

Debt_Free_Chick

You should remove the faeces from the veg garden too! Have a read of this or put toxocara into Google.

The toxocara eggs can survive for years in the soil and, if ingested, can cause blindness in humans. They are minute and it's not difficult to imagine that an egg could get from the soil, to your hands and end up in your mouth - yeuk!

Applies to dog faeces as well as cat.

apprentice_tycoon

Sorry, I should have said that I always garden in gloves (discarded dish-wash gloves under black heavy duty rubber gloves) and am aware of the bugs that my sweet, pretty little innocent cat can pass on, 2 of us in the family work at a cattery so we are well versed in what cats produce and rubber gloves and sensible hygiene are the norm, we don't have any children that play in the garden which would be a problem, I agree.
I also should have said that she is wormed regularly.

Debt_Free_Chick

apprentice_tycoon wrote:

Sorry, I should have said that I always garden in gloves (discarded dish-wash gloves under black heavy duty rubber gloves) and am aware of the bugs that my sweet, pretty little innocent cat can pass on, 2 of us in the family work at a cattery so we are well versed in what cats produce and rubber gloves and sensible hygiene are the norm, we don't have any children that play in the garden which would be a problem, I agree.
I also should have said that she is wormed regularly.

Yes it might have been helpful to others if you had outlined the pros & cons of composting cat faeces (including litter). It seems you didn't need the information I posted, but hopefully it will be helpful to others.

Whilst prevention is, of course, prudent, there seems to be little way that one could completely eliminate these microscopic eggs. So others need to consider whether they might find their way into the food chain e.g. could they survive in the hearts of lettuce & cabbage etc?

You clearly have a lot of knowledge of the subject - what a pity you didn't share it a more constructive & helpful way. You did appear to at least endorse and almost encourage composting of cat faeces and leaving it on the vegetable patch.

Perhaps you have been lucky - I only hope your luck holds out.

Others ... suggest you do your own research and draw your own conclusions.

apprentice_tycoon

I feel well and truly chastised - I shall go and sit on the naughty chair for a while, apologies to you all!

Galtizz

My compost bin was delivered last night so I have read this with intrest.

For my composter I will have hedge, grass and conifer cuttings, vegetable scraps, tea bags, egg shells, wood ashes, paper and that's about it. I don't have anything that has big leaves.

On one of the links it suggests using 25 parts 'brown' material to 1 part 'green' material. Sorry if this is a daft question but which is green and which is brown??

Curry_Queen

Debt_Free_Chick wrote:

You should remove the faeces from the veg garden too! Have a read of this or put toxocara into Google.

The toxocara eggs can survive for years in the soil and, if ingested, can cause blindness in humans. They are minute and it's not difficult to imagine that an egg could get from the soil, to your hands and end up in your mouth - yeuk!

Applies to dog faeces as well as cat.

Nothing for me to add to this as Debt_Free_Chick has provided excellent info, but just wanted to back her up on this as it's very important to take notice of

Debt_Free_Chick

Galtizz wrote:

On one of the links it suggests using 25 parts 'brown' material to 1 part 'green' material. Sorry if this is a daft question but which is green and which is brown??

Try this link as it gives examples.

And go easy on the conifer clippings as they take a lllooonnnnggg time to break down.

Debt_Free_Chick

apprentice_tycoon wrote:

I feel well and truly chastised - I shall go and sit on the naughty chair for a while, apologies to you all!

LOL! You can come back now

Yes, I was a little cross - but only as some readers might not have appreciated both sides of the story. People can make their own decisions, once they have all the facts.

nuff said