In article , Anne
Wheeldon writes

"Tumbleweed" wrote in message
...

The grass in my garden hasnt generally been shat on by dogs or cats, both
of
which can contain nasties hazardous to human health. And nor would I go
out
of my way to
spread shit over my lawn. Why would you do it? What benefit would accrue
from doing so that would outweigh even a tiny health risk?

I'm a bit puzzled by this. All the gardening books/ programmes say don't put
it on the compost heap, but we all use horse and chicken manure quite
happily. The website referred to in an earlier post suggests that they are v
high in phosphates from bones. My dogs eat dried food and vegetables but no
bones; they are wormed every six months so are unlikely to have toxicara
worms. I don't really grow veg. So what's the problem? Dog poo is only a
small fraction of the total compost.
I'd be very happy to get some sound advice on this.

Horses are vegetarians. Chickens are a long way away from us in what
they eat and how they digest it. Dogs are carnivores/omnivores. Apart
from toxicara, there's the simple possibility that they may have eaten
something a bit off and be harbouring some sort of stomach infection -
they're close enough to us for there to be a greater chance that
whatever they've got will also affect us.

That's the theory, anyway!

I wouldn't use dog poo, or cat poo, just as I wouldn't use human poo,
though I'm quite happy for the uring of all 3 to be on my compost heap.

But then again, all the neighbourhood cats crap in my garden, as do the
occasional dogs that get in, so why am I worried?

And I don't wash fruit before eating it, except when I'm serving it to
visitors, and that's never caused me problems.

--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm