Cat litter...

A family friend recommended a cat litter "compost heap." Esentially, she saves all the old cat litter by piling it in her back yard until spring when she mixes it with potting soil to use for planting. She swears it makes her garden "happy." Has anyone else tried this? Weird, I know, but her garden always looks so great.

havent used it for compost but have put it down gopher holes, they dont like it !

I wouldn't use ours, as it clumps when wet. I already have clay soil, so adding more would make it worse. ^_^

It is kind of a toss up for me, clay soil vs gophers, but i try everything i can.

You might be fine using if for your flower beds but using domestic pet poop in your veggie garden is not a good idea. Dog/cat feces tend to harbor parasites that humans can also get. You may want to Google for some more info and research before putting it near your food source.

Shoe, a lover of manure but usually horse, cow, and green.

i dont grow veggies. just flowers I actually use pot belly pig poo for fertilizer and as a gopher deterent, they dont like it. the cat stuff is a last resort if the pig stuff does not work.

sherman, I'd love to have some pig poo. I used to use it in the garden, too (veggie garden) with excellent results!

Shoe

Shoe, I'll be glad to ship some to you. LOL

Hmmm...I wonder how they'd charge to ship that stuff, by the plop? weight? size? *grin

Maybe you could run it thru your dehydrator first, eh? :>)

Thanks anyway!

My exMIL used to put used cat litter in her flower garden (which I inherited). All I can say is YUCK!!! For many reasons...

First, even tho it had been a while since she gardened there I would still find spots where it hadn't been mixed in well...and I suddenly KNEW I was working in full tilt cat poo. GROOOOOSS.

Second, what is that cat eating??? This is along the lines of what 'Shoe was saying about parasites (and pathogens)...and Lord knows what else. With other manures that are used the animals are eating a *veggie* diet...think grazing animals, they eat grass. I have no clue what's really in cat food...but I'm thinking fish and poultry (tuna, salmon, turkey, chicken...that's what comes to mind). There's a big difference in veggie based poo and meat based poo. hahahaha but GROOOOOSS again. Big difference in what it carries and how it breaks down and what it takes to break down.

Third, you are encouraging other kitties to turn your garden/yard into a huge litter box. Once that smell is there you've got a problem. Not only are they gonna do their business there they are also going to hang out. Hope you like strays!!!

Fourth, your neighbors really might have something to say about this practice...so if you do it you may want to keep it stealthy. In some communities open compost piles/heaps are not even allowed.

If you do decide to do this please be certain to wear gloves whenever you garden and mix the litter in really, really well.

Yuck.. I think it would be classified as perishable or hazardous. I have a great variety of poop, if you think of any you can't live without...

Cat poop does have toxoplasmosis in it. I'll kidding a side I really would not recommend it.

I have some concrete work done, they apparently had left over sand. They tossed it over the retaining wall ( I did not know they did this). Several weeks later I went out to take the trash cans down and thought, what the heck it that smell! Seems the neighborhood cats (not mine, they are house cats only) found a nice new place to do their thing. It took me weeks to get all the smell out of the dirt, so that they didn't return to that spot. At least the workers tossed it behind the wall behind the trash cans, nothing but dirt there. My MIL used to spread chicken poo around her yard. Not mix it in, just toss around. She had terrific plants, and strawberries, which I never ate.

I have access to llama poo. Anyone ever try it? Is there anything to be aware of as with horse poo that introduces lots of weeds?

llama poo is great, is not hot and can be used same day it is made. lol I wish i could get some. goat poo the same way. as far as cats go, i am a bleeding heart for strays, but out here most get eaten by coyotes, so is not much of an issue. the few that make it to the house(people dump them here all the time) get shots/spayed or neutered and free access to all the rodents they can eat. my neighbor on one side raises birds, lots of rodents in her avaries, and they sometimes come this way. she also has tons of ground squirrels cause she hates cats. old proverb-better to feed one cat than many mice !

Thanks Sherman for your response to my inquiry re: llama poo

sorry i added my cat rant.

I hadn't thought about attracting every cat in the neighborhood. That's a turn off for me!

Oh, come on, you don't want to be known as the "crazy cat person down the street"???....and no one can really figure out why....LOL!!