Cat Liter Compost bad Idea?

[Yomolove]

Well Id like to know what everyone thinks of this. I went to craigslist to check to see whats out there for compost... and this is the response I got... Ewww!

I Yvette,

I will have compost for you next week some time. I have another compost issue that I would like to talk to about. I have 2 male cats that eat Tuna for cats from Trader Joes and the other cat food from Whole Foods which includes dry cat food as well. Their cat litter is the compressed pine saw dust pellets which is more environmentally friendly than all of the other products. I would like to compost this as well if you are interested. I read articles and the only issue with using this for food compost is that it has to be composted for 18 months for it to be safe. If you are using it for plants it is much less time. Would you be interested in this?

Thanks Scott

Like I said EWWW! I dont think I have advanced my thought process to get past cat poop in my food... Don't get me wrong I love my beautiful cats... Norah and Isadorah aka Isabelle... I am just not ready to eat anything they produce.

How would I respond... Should I just say no thank you and go into detail or just not respond.

[plantoneonme]

I am with you on this one. Cats and dogs (as well as other meat eating mammals) carry MANY harmful things in their feces and using them as compost is not a good idea. Even if the cats are fed organic I would not trust they are not carrying some kind of harmful pests. Kim

[MoniDew]

I am with you on this one. Cats and dogs (as well as other meat eating mammals) carry MANY harmful things in their feces and using them as compost is not a good idea. Even if the cats are fed organic I would not trust they are not carrying some kind of harmful pests. Kim

This is what I have heard as well. Meat-eating mammals are loaded with parasites (humans included!)

Highjacking the thread a little bit here, but you sparked several random thoughts -

Vegetarian humans have fewer parasites living in their GI tracts and elsewhere in their bodies, and vegan humans have the fewest.

It is not a good idea to feed a carnivorous creature a vegetarian diet. Their GI tracts are only designed to handle their biologically appropriate diet. There is no such thing as a vegan cat. Cats are obligate carnivores.

Humans are biological frugivores (fruit eaters)

Warning to pet owners: Don't walk barefoot outdoors if you have an animal that "potty's" outside. Wear gloves when changing the litterbox.

Parasites are invisible to the naked eye, but will grow when connected to a blood supply. You can easily pick one up without knowing it. In fact, you probably have several hundred right now. And yes, they are growing.

Okay, so that wasn't just highjacking a little. It was highjacking a lot! I apologize for the random convergence of my thought process.

We now return to our previously scheduled programming.

[Yomolove]

This is what I have heard as well. Meat-eating mammals are loaded with parasites (humans included!)

Highjacking the thread a little bit here, but you sparked several random thoughts -

Vegetarian humans have fewer parasites living in their GI tracts and elsewhere in their bodies, and vegan humans have the fewest.

It is not a good idea to feed a carnivorous creature a vegetarian diet. Their GI tracts are only designed to handle their biologically appropriate diet. There is no such thing as a vegan cat. Cats are obligate carnivores.

Humans are biological frugivores (fruit eaters)

Warning to pet owners: Don't walk barefoot outdoors if you have an animal that "potty's" outside. Wear gloves when changing the litterbox.

Parasites are invisible to the naked eye, but will grow when connected to a blood supply. You can easily pick one up without knowing it. In fact, you probably have several hundred right now. And yes, they are growing.

Okay, so that wasn't just highjacking a little. It was highjacking a lot! I apologize for the random convergence of my thought process.

We now return to our previously scheduled programming.

This is some great info. I have learned a great deal

[onesmallshift]

I agree that you shouldn't use cat or dog compost on your gardens but it can be composted in a separate area. On another thread someone posted about composting meat scraps in a sunken garbage can with holes. The same thing can be done with pet waste and it works like a composting toilet. Here is a link that explains the set up: http://www.cityfarmer.org/petwaste.html

Also, while there may be groups of humans who choose to be frugivores it is inaccurate to classify humans as frugivores. Fruit doesn't generally have enough protein and the further you are from the tropic region the less fruit protein you are likely to find. In fact the traditional Inuit diet was and still is meat based as there are so few plants in the arctic region.