I gave a friend some garlic to plant, but she has been hesitating
because the neighbor's cat was leaving deposits in her garden on
a regular basis. Now, she just found out that they had to put the
cat down due to F.I.P. (feline infective peritonitis) Would this
contaminate the beds and cause any problem with planting garlic
now, and basil next year, obviously for human consumption?

Bob

FIP has not been documented in any species other than those of the
cat family. FIP is not known to constitute any health risk for human
beings. However, FIP virus is similar to a common virus of dogs - canine
coronavirus, that produces enteritis in dogs.

I'm not that smart, I got that from this page:
http://web.vet.cornell.edu/public/fhc/fip.html

Garlic is fairly safe for this situation since it has a papery covering
that gets discarded after it dries. Growing corn or pumpkins might be
even safer, but I think by harvest time next summer, there is little to
worry about.
If another cat shows up, next year have her buy a section of cheap wire
fence and lay it down on the soil. The cat can't dig through the fence
but the garlic can grow up through it just fine.
I do that where I will be planting carrots, lifting it after they get
some size. Then the section of fence goes over to the cucumbers where I
have already placed 2 fence posts. I tie the fence to the metal posts
and up go the cucumber vines.

Steve




Bob wrote:

I gave a friend some garlic to plant, but she has been hesitating
because the neighbor's cat was leaving deposits in her garden on
a regular basis. Now, she just found out that they had to put the
cat down due to F.I.P. (feline infective peritonitis) Would this
contaminate the beds and cause any problem with planting garlic
now, and basil next year, obviously for human consumption?

Bob

"Bob" writes:

I gave a friend some garlic to plant, but she has been hesitating
because the neighbor's cat was leaving deposits in her garden on
a regular basis. Now, she just found out that they had to put the
cat down due to F.I.P. (feline infective peritonitis) Would this
contaminate the beds and cause any problem with planting garlic
now, and basil next year, obviously for human consumption?

While FIP supposedly can't be caught by humans, there are enough
other nasties in meat-eating animal deposits that your friend should not
plant *ANY* food crops there.

--
Darryl Okahata


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