Pet owner wants to plant a garden
I got a dog about 3 years and my sister moved so now I have her cat, they do their business outside.This year I decided I wanted to plant a garden and I'm kinda worried about planting a garden now after reading about cat/dog poop. Of course I wasn't planning to use cat/dog poop in my garden, but I'm worry that they may have done their business sometime on the spot where I wanted to plant. Is there anything I can do if they did? what do I need to do? do I need to have a rised bed garden? or am I screwed?
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DoubleDogFarm
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A raised bed garden is not going to be a deterrent to a cat if it wants to use it as a litter box. I have feral cats in the neighborhood and every once in a while one of them will use my garden as it is not intended. I'll find it when weeding or otherwise working the garden. Cat junk is one of the smelliest things I've encountered in my garden and usually presents itself fairly easily. I'll simply remove it and put it in my trash bin.
A fence around your plot will keep a dog out but a cat will likely have to be hosed a time or two before it gets the idea it is not to go there.
We have a cat, but it is an indoor cat and with living on a fairly busy street makes me and the wife leery about letting her out. We've lost a cat before by being hit by a car and don't want that experience again.
A fence around your plot will keep a dog out but a cat will likely have to be hosed a time or two before it gets the idea it is not to go there.
We have a cat, but it is an indoor cat and with living on a fairly busy street makes me and the wife leery about letting her out. We've lost a cat before by being hit by a car and don't want that experience again.
JayBx25 wrote:so it should be fine as long as it isn't fresh?
I don't see a problem with it. I'm assuming you've picked up the pet waste in a timely manner and discarded it regularly. I had a dog when I first put in my backyard garden and unlike some dogs that find a special corner, he'd just go where he was standing. I'd police the yard about 3 times a week picking up the nasty bits. I never had a problem with growing flowers or vegetables where ever I dug a plot. Funny, once the ground was turned, he almost never used that area again.
Cats like freshly tilled sandy soil. Its nice and soft and perfect.
You can actually create the perfect spot somewhere else in the yard for her to do her business. You will have to clean it out once in a while and move it because it will get too smelly for the cat too.
Cats are also creatures of habit, they do the same thing around the same time of day. If you can figure when that is, (it is usually after they get up or eat), either install a sprinkler system or connect your garden hose to a faucet timer and plan for the the garden to get watered around those times. Cats do not like to get wet. It is not foolproof but it helps. It really is a better idea to keep the cat indoors, it is a lot safer for her and you will have much better neighbor relations because cats usually don't really like to mess up their yard and if they are not neutered, the caterwauling is usually in the middle of the night, because cats are basically nocturnal animals and 3 o'clock in the morning is broad daylight to them. I should know, I have three cats and if I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, they think, good you are up, lets play. P.S. You really don't need an alarm clock, they just know when it is time for you to get up, and if the alarm clock does go off, they will make sure you get up and feed them. They also let me know when it is time to change the litter box. One of my cats was very adept at gift wrapping the litter box when it needed to be changed. I don't know how but she always got the four corners perfectly aligned.
P.S. Dogs like to eat cat poop and then come and kiss you, so beware.
You can actually create the perfect spot somewhere else in the yard for her to do her business. You will have to clean it out once in a while and move it because it will get too smelly for the cat too.
Cats are also creatures of habit, they do the same thing around the same time of day. If you can figure when that is, (it is usually after they get up or eat), either install a sprinkler system or connect your garden hose to a faucet timer and plan for the the garden to get watered around those times. Cats do not like to get wet. It is not foolproof but it helps. It really is a better idea to keep the cat indoors, it is a lot safer for her and you will have much better neighbor relations because cats usually don't really like to mess up their yard and if they are not neutered, the caterwauling is usually in the middle of the night, because cats are basically nocturnal animals and 3 o'clock in the morning is broad daylight to them. I should know, I have three cats and if I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, they think, good you are up, lets play. P.S. You really don't need an alarm clock, they just know when it is time for you to get up, and if the alarm clock does go off, they will make sure you get up and feed them. They also let me know when it is time to change the litter box. One of my cats was very adept at gift wrapping the litter box when it needed to be changed. I don't know how but she always got the four corners perfectly aligned.
P.S. Dogs like to eat cat poop and then come and kiss you, so beware.
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Cola82
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I have a stray cat who hangs out in our yard pretty much all the time and he never even touches the raised bed.
The boyfriend freaked out one day because he spotted him in a tree planter but he was just enjoying the wind through the leaves.
Maybe it's like iamafan said, and he just thinks of it as his home and doesn't want to foul it up, but we've enjoyed him more for being polite out there.
He's still terrified of us, though.
The boyfriend freaked out one day because he spotted him in a tree planter but he was just enjoying the wind through the leaves.
Maybe it's like iamafan said, and he just thinks of it as his home and doesn't want to foul it up, but we've enjoyed him more for being polite out there.
He's still terrified of us, though.
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Gary350
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Dog and cat poop are no problem in my garden. If your afraid of poop you have no business with a garden. My cat fertilizes my garden all the time it is good fertilizer. My dog is the problem it digs holes every where. The dog dug up 8 or my 9 water melon plants and several of my bell peppers. I need a fence to keep that idiot dog out or the dog is about to become homeless. Poop is not dangerous, it will not kill you if you get it on you, you won't have a stroke or heart attack from it. It washes off. I have 4 cats and 2 normal dogs and 1 idiot diggen dog. I have not gotten poop on me in many years. I might need to put an electric fence around my garden, 1 wire 6" off the ground to keep out the idiot. Dog poop is always on the surface you can see it and rake it away. Put a bag of sand far from the garden cats will always dig where it is easy to dig because they cover up all their poop.
Last edited by Gary350 on Mon Jun 23, 2014 11:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
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rainbowgardener
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Toxoplasmosis can only be a problem with fresh cat poop, not any that's been breaking down in the garden for a good while. In fresh cat poop it is mainly a problem for pregnant women, because of the small chance that the unborn fetus can be affected. Otherwise most people that contract toxoplasmosis never know it.
"More than 60 million men, women, and children in the U.S. carry the Toxoplasma parasite, but very few have symptoms because the immune system usually keeps the parasite from causing illness.
However, women newly infected with Toxoplasma during pregnancy and anyone with a compromised immune system should be aware that toxoplasmosis can have severe consequences." https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/ People that have the parasite usually have it as a food borne illness from undercooked meat.
You don't need to get scared about aged cat poop in the garden.
"More than 60 million men, women, and children in the U.S. carry the Toxoplasma parasite, but very few have symptoms because the immune system usually keeps the parasite from causing illness.
However, women newly infected with Toxoplasma during pregnancy and anyone with a compromised immune system should be aware that toxoplasmosis can have severe consequences." https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/ People that have the parasite usually have it as a food borne illness from undercooked meat.
You don't need to get scared about aged cat poop in the garden.