Comments on: Pet Waste Composting

By: Ashley

Ashley — Mon, 02 May 2011 18:42:19 +0000

Given the exact situation you described, with a good monthly preventative and yearly fecal exams, there is probably little risk unless your dog likes to go out and eat other dog or cat poop (mine is horrible about that). Then, your dog could become temporarily infected until the next time you give the monthly dewormer (Interceptor would remove any infection that developed in the past month, not prevent a new infection for the coming month).
For people that don’t get yearly fecal exams and just do the monthly preventatives, I would worry about parasites that exist in cysts and shed at low levels for the dog’s entire life. They don’t cause a clinical problem, and would get killed off each time they try to re-establish, but they would still be in the body and potentially in the feces. If every fecal he has ever had is negative, that’s probably not likely (unless it’s a female and she becomes pregnant, because that can activate some parasites).

Especially when you consider that any feral cats in the area probably consider your nicely tilled garden to be a good litterbox, that’s probably your biggest risk… but that can’t be helped (pregnant women should always wash their hands after gardening because of toxoplasmosis).

By: Ashley

Ashley — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 00:48:01 +0000

Regarding Edward’s comment that you are already exposed to what your pet has, I have to disagree. You don’t eat things your pet’s poop has touched, and you should be washing your hands after handling their waste. There are a lot of zoonotic pathogens you can get from pet feces, and toxoplasma is the LEAST of your worries. A big one is roundworms. They can cause VERY serious problems, especially in children. (In fact if you have a puppy you need to pick up EVERY one of their poops until they are finished with their series of deworming at the vet.) Hookworm larvae can penetrate your skin. Echinococcus (a tapeworm relative) is another possibility, though less likely in the United States. All of these are shed in feces. Not to mention the regular bacteria like salmonella and such. I don’t remember my parasitology lectures perfectly, but there ARE parasites that can encyst in an infective state and can even survive the heat of forest fires.

As for why you should be more careful with carnivorous pets, I believe it’s because their biology is more similar to humans and therefore we are more likely to be able to share their parasites. Also, their food is slightly more likely to be contaminated since it has meat going into it at some point.

I don’t know a lot about reptiles, but my main worry would be salmonella. Pretty much all reptiles, even pets, carry salmonella without showing any ill effects.

By: Edward Murray

Edward Murray — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 08:19:23 +0000

One question and a comment:

I don’t understand why a carnivore’s waste would have more pathogens than a herbivore’s, yet this statement seems to be in every discussion of composting pet wastes. What is the basis for this?

My comment is that mother nature has done a pretty good job of composting the wastes of all animals so why is everyone so uptight about composting pet wastes? You are likely already exposed to any pathogens that your pet has so in one sense, the composted wastes may be safer than sitting down and petting Muffy.

By: Melissa Amlin

Melissa Amlin — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 03:19:50 +0000

In regards to Teri’s question and your reply – yes, your ferrets are carnivores, or at least they should be, they are actually supposed to be MORE carnivorous than cats. While the pelleted food (aka kibble) probably has a lot of grain/crap/filler in it, as do the many cat & dog food kibbles out there, the diet is supposed to be meat based. I can imagine that the same reasons for concern about using the feces of dogs & cats also applies to ferrets in this case. In fact, if the ferret or dog or cat was fed a purely raw meat diet, their feces would probably decompose and dissolve much easier and quicker and would probably not even need the worms’ help, it’s all the fillers in the kibble that slows things down and makes it more unpleasant to handle.
Anyhoo, so yes ferrets should be included in the probably don’t want to put on your food garden plants.
But I would still like to know about my question about the included bedding???

By: Compost Guy

Compost Guy — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 18:29:59 +0000

That’s a really good question, Teri! Given the fact that it is a pellet food, and it will be well processed by the worms, I would likely be ok with using it myself. No matter what it would get used SOMEWHERE to fertilize SOMETHING!

Don’t ‘waste’ it – but maybe do a bit more research to see if it will be ok for a human-consumption garden.

By: teri

teri — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:58:34 +0000

I don’t quite understand, I have a vermicomposting bin I use the castings for vegetable garden. I wanted to compost ferret poo and newspaper bedding but unsure about it. he eats only dry ferret pellet type food. so I dont know if he would be considered a carnivore i guess I should look at food ingredients? I don’t know can his poopoo go on my veggie garden? his poopoo that worms have eaten and poopooed into castings? It seems like such a “waste” ha ha. can I put it in?? Thank You

By: Melissa Amlin

Melissa Amlin — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:45:09 +0000

I want to compost my pet’s waste (2 cats, 2 ferrets & 1 dog) in a seperate composting area – I’m wondering about the “bedding materials” – will I have to add extra bedding materials like cardboard, newspaper, etc. if the cat & ferret wastes are including their litter materials (presently the ferrets use “yesterdays news” and the cats use “swheat scoop”, but if you recommend a better cat litter to use (like the corn ones or something) I could switch them) The yesterday’s news is broken down newspaper already, so would that mostly take care of the bedding needs itself? Would it be too much bedding? Should I be adding some food scraps to this composter as well, or just purely pet waste? How can I deal with the fresh “loads” every day if they need to sit for a while before being introduced to the worms? Please give me some guidance, as I hate the fact that I’m using “enviromentally friendly” litter only to pickle it in plastic in a landfill!!

By: Robin

Robin — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:58:08 +0000

Could you elaborate on the ‘buffer zone’ ? I’ve recently set up one of the green plastic worm farms (separately) for pet waste as my house is on a hill and I’m not comfortable with setting up a digester pit. I set it up with 1 yr old leaf bedding. I’m unsure of the proper layering etc. Also, one article mentioned the ideal temp to kill pathogens for pet waste compost was 164F? I’m assuming the artice was referring to a non vermiculture compost pile. Are there any emzymes etc that could be added to the resulting vermicast to neutralize the pathogens?

By: Peter Ritchie

Peter Ritchie — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:20:18 +0000

I tried one of the commercially available plastic sump affairs to which you add water and a composter liquid. The concept is that it should have stones and drainage around it by way of a pit so that the poo dissolves and drains away. It worked for a bit but blocked up after a relatively short time and is therefore useless. Sounds like you need a lot of space for yours to keep it away from everything, not to mention the smell. I would love to find a solution. Currently I have a bucket with water to which I add the poo and empty it down the culvert in the road – not my favourite job and prone to someone objecting ( I do wash it away well). There must be a better way.

Peter

By: Compost Guy

Compost Guy — Tue, 20 May 2008 19:55:02 +0000

Hi guys – sorry for the delays getting back with my comments!

Cultiv8 – I would imagine that reptile wastes would work well in a composting system, although I wonder if they might be pretty strong (like poultry manure). I’m also not sure if they contain any serious pathogens.
I’d suggest using them in moderation (or in a pet was composter) and mixing with lots of carbon rich materials like staw, shredded cardboard, leaves etc.

Satori – While my comment was indeed somewhat ‘tongue in cheek’, I’m actually very open the concept and hope to one day have my own (vermi)composting toilet.