What does cat poo look like?

[bozemum]

Perhaps someone here could help me. I have no experience of cats. My ds was playing in the garden and held something up and said 'a stick'. It looked like a small fat stick covered in soil. I grabbed it off him and threw it away. I washed both our hands. Then later when he was asleep I went to inspect it. I wondered if it was a slightly old cat poo. All crusty and covered in soil. When I broke it apart it was full of what looks like little hairs. Is this what cat poo looks like?
I'm slightly concerned as we're ttc number 2. So not a good time to be handling cat poo.

Why did you go back to inspect it?!

Yes it sounds like cat poo, though it could be fox, as they are also hairy of bottom.

fur ball?

I wanted to know if I should be worried! I did put on gloves.

Sounds like puked up fur ball to me. Hairy and poo-like.

As long as hands washed, no problem.

It was pretty dense with hair/fur. Does that sound more like a fur ball?

show it to a dog, if it's cat poo the dog will eat it. If it's a furball the dog will just sniff it
however if the dog is a spaniel it will eat it whatever it is so don't use a spaniel

It sounds like a furball to me, but as furballs and cat poos tend to be of fairly similar size and shape (or the ones my cats produce are anyway) it is hard to tell.

Although cat poo frequently can carry toxoplasma (a lot of outdoor cats get it from eating small animals) your chances of getting infected from it are very slim if you are always careful to wash your hands after gardening etc (or even better, wear gloves) and never touch dirty hands to your mouth - thus ingesting traces of the infected cat poo.

I believe the odds of infection with toxoplasma are actually very slightly higher from eating undercooked meat - or handling raw meat and then touching your mouth and accidentally ingesting traces of raw meat. Also, consuming unwashed veggies and fruit carries a small risk too.

Just wash hands when commonsense tells you to and I'm sure you will be fine :)

Fruitshoots. That has to be one if the best bits of advice I've ever seen on mumsnet. Definite award winner!