Pet waste. All pet parents have to deal with it. The question is how.
CAT CAKES! Most families with feline members use litter boxes to contain the unpleasant goodies their kitties leave behind. The waste itself is often removed daily, with the litter being changed on a schedule determined by how often you can get the kids or spouse to do it. Kidding. Sort of. We don’t have any hairball factories around here, but you can bet if we did, the litter box would be emptied often. By the hubs, of course. Toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection that can spread from cats to humans through contact with infected cat feces, is generally only dangerous for pregnant women, infants, and those with weakened immune systems. I don’t fall into any of those categories (at least I’m pretty sure), but my germ-phobic self still isn’t going anywhere near a litter box. The risk of toxoplasmosis, as well as the presence of other parasites and bacteria, also means that cat waste should always be disposed of properly, in a sealed bag, and put with the rest of your trash to be picked up by your municipal waste hauler.
DOG DOODLES! Those of us with canine kids strive to come to an understanding with them that the great outdoors is a much more agreeable place to dispose of their unwanteds. The great outdoors, of course, being our own back yard. Not the neighbor’s yard. Not the sidewalk.
If we are successful in convincing them that outside is THE place to do business… we then have a decision to make. What do we do with all of their odorous ordure?
My husband and I feel like our dogs manufacture a lot of poop, but truthfully, we know we are fortunate in the amount we must dispose of. We have three dachshunds. I cannot imagine what it would be like to manage the output of a large breed or several large breeds.
WHERE ARE MY GLOVES?! Picking up the poop around here is a once-a-day ritual engaged in by yours truly. Honestly, it could be done more than once per day, but that’s the schedule and I’m sticking to it. First comes the rubber gloves… well, the vinyl gloves… I buy them in boxes of 100. I usually just wear a glove on my right hand… the business hand, as it were. I carry a small bag in my left, usually a bag that is leftover from anything else – anything at all: bread bags, cereal bags, small shopping bags, anything… I’m all about repurposing. When I eventually run out of bags that I’ve saved up, I will purchase some of the earth-friendly biodegradable bags made expressly for the purpose of pet poo pickup and disposal. Several filled small bags usually go inside of another bag, to cut down on the odor, then that bag goes in the trash can. I know, I know… so many bags… not environmentally friendly at all, which is especially surprising for me – since my husband calls me the Crazy Recycling Woman. I really am pretty neurotic about recycling every possible scrap of anything that can be recycled. So yes, I feel guilty about the way I’ve been handling the less-than-lovely part of dog parenthood.
So why go into all this detail just for the sake of dog poop? I mean, we all have a similar method of dealing with our dogs’ not-so-dandy doodads, right? Not really, as I’ve learned.
GET THE SHOVEL! Some folks choose to pick up the poop with a scooper… which I thought were all the same – the standard rake and scoop setup. They are not. There are all kinds of pooper scoopers… some with jaws, some with claws, some with spring action, one you even pick up the poop with a pointed spoon on the end of a tube – then let it fall through the tube into a bag. What?? This. Will I ever invest in any of these scoopers? Not right now. Bending over and picking up the small poops with my gloved hand is working okay. But it does make me wonder… for those who pick up their dogs’ brownies with a scooper… then what do you do with it? Does it go into a bag? A bucket? A Doggie Dooley? Wait. A what? A Doggie Dooley… is like an in-ground pet waste toilet. No wait, it isn’t like that… it IS that. I mean, your dog doesn’t sit on it and use it, but the poo does go in there and it doesn’t come back out… much like a toilet. The true function of a dooley is really that of a septic system. As you continually add more poop to the dooley, you also add water and powder digester – which is basically a combination of enzymes and bacteria that help break down the poop into a liquid to be absorbed into the ground.
There are more options than simply picking up and trashing the poo.
Bad Mom! But I’m willing to change. I am.
So, do tell. How do you gather the poo and how do you dispose of it?
After all, we can’t all have Crusoe:
