Bill wrote:

Cat shit is not trivial, perhaps you should eat more of it!

The fatal feline leukemia virus, feline infectious perionitis and
feline
immunodeficiency virus are spread from cat to cat through saliva,
urine and
fecal matter. A cat who is suffering from intestinal parasites, such
as
roundworms or tapeworms, can pass the eggs of these parasites in his
feces.
Should another animal come in contact with the infected cat's feces,
snip

Okay. That's interesting. Trivial, but interesting.

But we're not talking about finding a way to keep cats from shitting. We
were originally talking about getting them to shit someplace else. And
in that someplace else, the risks of parasites and disease are the same.

But if you want to veer off onto the subject of composting the cat
waste, similar tirades could be made about any animal waste. You
wouldn't want your pregnant wife playing with cow shit, either. A major
source of contamination that makes ground water non-potable is farm
animal shit, yet we still use composted manures on our gardens.

Soil itself harbors plenty of parasites. Perhaps we should find a way to
stop all animals from shitting, and then pave everything over so we
don't come in contact with the soil, either.

Let's not get fanatic, tossing around statistics like "Every year about
10,000 children annually, for example, are infected with roundworms."
That's nothing but trivia unless you put it into context. Is that
worldwide, or a particular region? What is the method of contraction?
And how does that compare with other infections, such as the flu? Ten
thousand by itself sounds like a big number, but in context, it could be
hardly worth the blink of an eye. (That's assuming it's an accurate
number to begin with.)

If the cats are shitting someplace where the kids are playing, that's a
problem. If the cat shit smells too much, that's a problem. If there's
so much cat shit that it fills up the compost bin, that's a problem,
too. But rattling-off some meaningless stats about parasites in cat shit
is nothing but trivial pursuit fodder.

And it doesn't contribute to a solution, either. The discussion is about
how to deal with the shit that happens. I think we can all stipulate
that fresh shit is icky, but that doesn't get us anyplace closer to a
workable solution.

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
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