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Cat mess and veg patch!
emma-novice gardener
Posts: 2
I have a decent sized slightly raised flower border with good sun exposure. I dug it all up this year ready to plant next year. A couple of times over the year I have noticed that my cat has used it as a toilet. I'm sure there will have been a time or two when I have missed it and it has composted down. This is not a daily regular occurrence as he usually goes in the fields (I have tried to train him to use a litter tray but he waits and goes outside- for days if I keep him locked in).
My question is: can I use the border next year to plant as a veg patch?
Is there anything I should do to treat the soil?
My soil quality is good.
Many thanks, any advixe will be appreciated
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Posts
I put netting on the beds and new seeded ground.
stops cats scratching soil.
I would have thought that the muck will have broken down in the soil by now. I wouldn't expect it cause any problem in using the area as a veg patch.
Toxoplasmosis can remain active in the soil for up to 18 months.
I've worked with children who have been terribly disabled in the womb because their mother contracted the infection whilst pregnant.
I'm well past the age when I might become pregnant, but I use wire netting to keep cats from fouling my vegetable patch. Any 'deposits' found anywhere in the garden are cleared up scrupulously and binned.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Interesting to learn that Dove. Even more reason cat owners should keep them in their own gardens!
Thank you so much, I think I will try the netting (and keep pestering the cat to use a litter tray too). Perhaps a good layer of mulch and then start things off in pots next year and and plant fruit bushes.
This might sound silly but I'm guessing that Toxoplasmosis isn't something that 'gets into' plants? (I mean it is in the soil and washes off rather than penetrates into and remains in a fruit bush?!)
Emma as I understand it, the toxoplasmosis oocysts exist in the soil , not the plants. They can be ingested through eating uncooked veg that have not been adequately cleaned and also via a wound in the skin.
I have to disagree with Hortico - the droppings of all animals are not toxic or we would not use manure on our gardens. It is the droppings of carnivores that can carry dangers to humans. And as I understand it, it is only cats that can transmit toxoplasmosis in this way.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I've always been of the mind that manure is termed as this as being what is deposited after the animal has eaten a stable diet of grass and plants..so it goes back into the garden putting in goodness at the same time starting the regeneration process time after time.
Cats like dogs however even though they eat grass to make themselves vomit have a diet of food consisting of meat and a mixture of cereal etc.when deposited these don't . It goes mouldy when left , spreading the virus.
Some one in our family a long time ago when a child fell down ,as he was retaining a cricket ball.the ball had rolled into cat / dog poo and slightly caught his nose ..nose got infected.he had to have it removed .a false nose made to cover the holes which allowed him to breath.it was attached to a pair of glassless spectacles . These he wore for the rest of his life from eight yrs old.
Now a lot more can be done .but the fact remains .cat poo is not manure ,as dove says infections from it remain .
How toxoplasmosis can be contracted and the effects on the baby in the womb
https://www.tommys.org/pregnancy-information/pregnancy-complications/toxoplasmosis-and-pregnancy
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.