Flushing dog or cat poo down the loo

[loubielou31]

I found out recently that someone I know, (but don't know well) flushes their dog poo. Please tell me this isn't actually a thing that's okay because it seemed pretty gross to me. I don't have dogs or cats so I haven't given it any thought before. I do know that cat poo in particular can have some parasite that is pretty dangerous for people. But maybe it's okay and water treatment is good enough to clear out all the nasties.

YABU: flushing is fine and better than all the plastic poo bags going into landfill.
YANBU: It's gross and carries germs that are not adequately removed from the water during sewerage treatment.

I had no idea people would clear pooh from their garden & put it down the loo! That's crazy!

I use litter made from paper which is flushable. It’s literally just paper. And I worm my cats regularly. They rarely poo in the trays as they prefer to go outside, but I think it’s fine to flush their poo if they do. Frankly I would hope that water is treated well enough to deal with the pathogens in human faeces before I next drink it, and I can’t believe that there are parasites in cat shit which are resistant to whatever treatment makes water contaminated with human waste safe to drink. I suspect the water companies’ instructions not to do it are because they’re worried that dim people will try to flush plastic poo bags full of poo down the toilet otherwise.

It’s. Called. POO.

I listened to a bbc podcast about dog poo bags ( don’t ask!) and they said specifically not to flush dog poo down the toilet as there were particular parasites that can get in water that effect the aquatic life etc

I use wood pellet cat litter which means that when you scoop and shake you are literally left with just the cat poo which I do flush. I'll double check with Thames Water now but that felt to me more sustainable then putting in plastic bin bags. It's only 1 cat though as the other uses my garden !

I've done it in the past. But the cat in question had taught herself to use the toilet.

https://biocatolet.co.ukk*/ is literally little bits of shredded newspaper. I'm not sure how the small amount adhering to Dcat's deposits is going to clog the sewers. If it was clay litter, that would be different.

Would you flush a shredded up newspaper down the toilet then?

Cat litter doesn't belong down the toilet.

Just to repeat a couple of earlier posts. Even if, as a pp said, it's because the water people don't invest enough, it still means don't do it right now.

Anyone got any stats for the number if people suffering from parasites transmitted via the water system in this country?

I don’t but (genuinely) I’m interested with where you’re leading to with this question?

Nothing weird about burying dog poo in the garden. We have a sunken dog toilet specifically designed to do exactly this. It's also how toilets work for humans on some camp sites that don't have plumbing.

We've had our doggy loo (essentially a sunken bucket with an open bottom) for years and the poo breaks down into the soil and has never needed emptying.

Cornetto I'm not recommending flushing animal faeces down the loo, let's not do that. However, I'm mistrustful of water companies, the whole bunch of them. As I remember it, privatising water would lead to 'sorely needed investment in our outdated Victorian systems' and not to our water becoming a cash resource for money grabbing investors who have filled out rivers with shit and their pockets with our money. I'm therefore disinclined to trust anything they say. I wouldn't be surprised to discover they just made it up.

a) My dog is wormed, regularly.
b) When I pick up his shit I grab both it, and the sand beneath and surrounding before bagging.
c) I go early morning and at low tide, the incoming tide would wash away any remnants.
d) get a grip, genuinely.