Is cat poo dangerous/bad to have in the soil?

[herbalholly]

Another cat poo question....

Ok so I can't get the neighbours cats out of the garden. I'm working on not going mental about it.
However, on a practical note... one of the cats buries its poo so it gets incorporated into the soil. Cat poo in the soil surely means cat poo on your carrots etc doesn't it? And cat poo isn't allowed in compost because of the bacteria... how much should I worry about this?

Also for your information I'm running a cat deterent experiment. I'm raked a bed (it's pristine, like a Japanese garden, just the way they like it) and have divided it into sections and hopefully will see which section doesn't get pooed in! Section a) is sprinkled wih chilli pepper flakes; section b) has teabags soaked in lemon essential oil; section c) has teabags soaked in man wee and section d) has sticks with crisscross string on.

A little obsessive perhaps but it really makes me cross and with a baby on the way I don't want to have to shift shit each time me and the babe want to go in the garden.

Rant over (for now)

[Carltonian Man]

It's an annoying problem HH. I can understand and empathise with your frustrations/concerns; keep us posted how the experiments go. Meanwhile, some parts of this may be of interest.

http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/showthread.php?t=171737

[Millymollymandy]

I suggest fencing your veggie patch off from cats with some wire material that they can't get through or jump over.

I know you are supposed to wear gloves when gardening if you are pregnant.

I don't worry about cat poo in my flower beds, I worry more about the holes and plants getting covered over or young plants being scratched up, so I put little fence wire cages around all young plants (this actually is as much against hen and duck damage as cat). I have hedgehog and other unidentifiable poo on my lawn and there's not much you can do about that living in the countryside!

I have done the criss cross sticks thing and that works, but it is a hell of a job to weed! Good luck with your experiments. There is a product called something like 'dog off' which works for cats too but costs a bomb and probably isn't something you'd want to sprinkle around your veg anyway.

[Rosendula]

I have done the criss cross sticks thing and that works, but it is a hell of a job to weed! Good luck with your experiments. There is a product called something like 'dog off' which works for cats too but costs a bomb and probably isn't something you'd want to sprinkle around your veg anyway.

I've tried the criss cross sticks thing and it can work if you have enough sticks. If you don't put enough down, they just go in between them. I've also taken to throwing lightly crushed eggshells on my beds. That keeps him off. He doesn't like his paws getting pricked.

[herbalholly]

thanks for your replies.
MMM what are your little wire cages like? Do you make them yourself or are they expensive fancypants ones? Sounds like a good idea.
My sister has suggested putting up a fruit cage over the whole garden... I'm thinking about that as a fall back if I can't sort it out in a less major way.
Egg shells is a good one Rosendula I'll try that on my test patch garden!

[Millymollymandy]

Hi Holly, I use the same plastic covered fence wire that we used to fence off the veg patch (which incidentally skinny cats can get through! ) and we use it for all sorts of plants both as frames/supports for things like dahlias and floppy things like cranesbill geraniums and also to protect them. The fence wire is in a square mesh about 2-3" diameter between the squares (does that make sense?)

I just sit with the wire cutters and cut them to size, bend them into a circle and having left one side with the long bits of wire and the other flush I just bend the long bits over to hold them in place. I can do them any height or diameter that I want. The added benefit is that they don't really show up being green, it just disappears into the foliage and from a distance you don't notice it.

If this makes no sense I'll take a photo tomorrow! But it might not work on veggies in rows, would work on individually planted out veggies like cabbages or lettuces OK though, but is not going to stop a cat from pooping outside of the mesh. You could though bend the mesh into a long triangular or rounded shape to put over rows.

[phil55494]

Spikey twigs/sticks stuck in and around the bed will keep cats off but you need to make sure there is enough area covered and that the sticks stay there.
Having a holly and some hawthorn in the garden it does give us a ready supply of spikey sticks.

[Mullein]

Now, I'm not sure if this is for foxes or cats - might work for both - or maybe its for something else... but I did hear that human hair is a good barrier - they don't like the smell or something. Nibbling at the back of my brain is also a story about getting lion poo from the Safari Park? Nothing likes that I think - don't know how good or bad it smells to us either though...

sorry - just some random musings - let us know how your experiment goes

Cx

[pelmetman]

I say live and let live. However, we have friends who get het up about cats in their garden and they have bought a couple of the battery operated deterents which seem to work.

Regards
Pelmetlady - Sue

[Millymollymandy]

My mum bought one of those and she said the neighbourhood cats just used to walk past it laughing!

[Torch404]

My old neighbor use to take his old coffee grounds and put them in a gallon jug with water. He'd then splash it over where he didn't want the cats to go. He seemed to think it worked.

On a more extreme end you can buy some bobcat or wolf urine online. Then spray it around your bed. That will keep the cats far away.

[sortanormalish]

Hello. I'm new and in Tennessee. I ran a cat rescue for some time. We had to find a solution to a certain accumulation problem. First, you can safely compost cat litter made from plain sawdust and use it on vegetables. The key is that you must use plain sawdust and fully (at least 6 months in a warm climate) compost the litter. As for cats in the garden, even pregnant women who have been exposed to cats shouldn't have a problem, only people with impaired immune systems. You are exposed to toxoplasmosis every time you pet a cat, or a person with a cat! Obviously you want to clean any food thoroughly before eating it. If you still fill the need to keep cats out of your garden a trick we use here is to use the coyote or dog urine sold in garden supply catalogs. It stinks, but works. I guess you could collect it yourself?!?

[herbalholly]

Thanks for all the replies.
I particularly liked 'torch's suggestion "On a more extreme end you can buy some bobcat or wolf urine online. Then spray it around your bed. That will keep the cats far away." as I forgot for a second what we were walking about and wondered why putting urine round my bed (thinking pillows, fluffy duvet etc) would be a good idea.
Yes MMM that does make sense, I'll give it a whirl.
I like the coffee water idea too.
Thanks

[benner]

Someone suggested to me to try grated Coal Tar Soap as a deterrent! I know my wife's cat doesn't like the smell of it!