cat/fox poo on my veggie patch. Is everything contaminated?

[pookey]

Is it safe to eat veg grown in my garden? We get quite a few neighbouring cats in our garden and today i found lots of poo where I have planted carrots. I removed it but will it be safe to eat them if the seeds grow into carrots? I have also planted a cucumber which obv I can't cook but covered it in netting so hopefuly it will be ok to eat those peeled? So disappointing.

anyone grow vbeg with this problem please?

if you wash and scrub the veg, I can't see any problems, especially if it's only the seedlings at the moment. Actual crap on the vegetables that you've harvested would be another story! I have taken to sticking short lengths of wood into my veg patch to prevent the cats from using it as a loo - the sticks are long enough that squatting over them could be painful!! sadly it means the buggers have moved to the lawn to defecate now

thanks kvetabarry will try that. If the carrots manage to grow I think they might be ok. Might replant the cuc plant in a pot though. hmm.

grosso thought veg with crap on! plastic veg from supermarket suddenly appealing but who knows whats on that!

see here for more cat repelling ideas btw :o

It's absolutely fine IMO... you'd be amazed at all the poo you've eaten over the years without knowing about it and you're still fine. Obviously you'll be giving everything a wash and if you do see turds lying around you'll clear them off the veg patch...

Remember that many people pay good money for cow poo/manure to put on their veg patches. Poo is natural and good for your soil.... Although I do agree that fresh poo is somewhat offputting!

Knitter - faeces from a herbivore is VERY different from faeces from a carnivore/omnivore! Mainly due to the pathogen transmission potential, but also the smell! You wouldn't fertilise your soil with your own, ahem, fertiliser, would you?!

also, manure for the garden tends to be well rotted and thus less likely to harbour nasties.

This happened to me last year (cats and foxes) - no one would eat the veg or herbs. I tried lion dung pellets but they did not work. My DP wanted me to not plant this year as we had spent a lot of money building the plot and filling it with compost and had used seedlings from a nursery for nothing.

This year I am having a final go though - have planted seeds (cheaper) and covered the patch with netting (yet more expense) - apparently once the veg patch is crowded enough with plants the cats won't defecate anymore. Although last year foxes dug up some of the seedlings. A friend says if you feed the foxes they don't poo in your garden - her elderly neighbour feeds local foxes and has 12 cats but in her small garden next door she no probs at all and grows lots of veg and herbs (not fair).

If well washed and scrubbed it is alright to eat - commercial stuff has human waste spread all over it - but the thought and the smell - yuk! have planted herbs in pots this year as I really get fed up with having to buy those.

Good luck

thanks all, will check out that link. endiroach you are kidding human waste - that must be worse than cat poo. bleugh. well done for persisting, my dp was very against me even planting some carrot seeds, i hope the netting works I might try that. I might neglect to mention cat poo to dp. I have to say it going to work out quite a time consuming and expensive excercise buying netting patroling for cats etc. i have planted herb seeds in pots but would need a lot to make something like pesto.