Compostable litter

[SurvivingNotThriving]

Hello. I'm currently transitioning my indoor-only cats to compostable litter. In an ideal world, I'd gladly chuck the stuff on the compost heap because I'm obsessed with generating as much compost as possible for my veg garden.

The litter pack says it's not <<recommended>> for veg-growing. BUT my veg beds are already littered with poo from the neighbours' cats, which I don't always notice before it's been there for a while.

So surely things can't get any worse if I chuck the spent litter on the compost heap to decompose for six months before spreading it on the veg beds??? Just to be clear, I scoop the cats' poop every day, so the litter that I would be composting would comprise unadulterated plus wee-soaked plus poo-adjacent litter. Is that so very risky?

I'm fairly relaxed about the issue when it comes to veg that are cooked before eating. After all, our gardens are full of critters weeing and pooping. But what about crops that you eat without cooking, such as lettuce? Surely half a year on a compost heap will remove any significant risk, especially when compared with the quantity of cat poo that lands in my beds anyway???

Cat or dog faeces aren't compostable because they contain potentially harmful bacteria and digested meat which shouldn't be in compost anyway. Most compost heaps don't get hot enough to break them down safely.

Sorry - pressed to soon - I think the difference between horse and cow manure and used pet litter from is that cows and horses are herbivores.

You shouldn't compost cat or dog poo as if can contain nasties like toxoplasmosis which can cause blindness and other conditions in humans.

If there's cat poo on your flowerbeds it should be picked up and dealt with properly - it'sbwhy so many people are against the idea of cats being allowed out to roam.

Can you compost in a Hot bin? You’d need to make sure it was getting really hot to kill off the bacteria. I think I’d compost in a hot bin and then use on the flower beds. Could you have two heaps?

Super benek is corn based litter, we buy in bulk from Zoo Plus. Very low odour and great for long hair house cat. We add the wet/unused litter to the compost heap but any poos are bagged and binned.

We do have a hot composter though

I'm confused. Don't you remove any poo from tray as soon as you see it?

We use wood pellets, compostible. We pick out the poo from litter & put the rest (wee only) in compost heap. Rats-voles-mice poo in garden & compost heaps, birds poo in the garden (wild birds are full of toxoplasmosis). We probably should just compost the cat poo, really. Can't see that it's rational not to.

I’d use it on my flower beds but not on veg beds. And I’m pretty relaxed. Your food isn’t really something you want to mess with, is it?

Yes sorry, should have been clear. I remove all poo immediately and put it in the bin.

I’m contemplating exactly the same thing at the minute…composting the litter but bagging the poo. Considering hot composting the cat poo and using in the very back of the garden under bushes. I think it’s an under researched topic and the ideal outdoor, low maintenance, cat latrine solution is a work in progress for me.

other than toxoplasmosis, what is supposed to be dangerous in cat poo?
I googled, toxop is only thing ever mentioned.

The voles, shrews, moles, mice, rats, and every wild bird pooing in my garden already deposit daily toxop.

I'm interested in this too, but currently have no garden. Local authority are happy to take leftover meat and kitchen roll, but paper cat litter plus a bit of wee is a health hazard.

This is exactly what we do. But the compost heap doesn't actually get used as compost for a couple of years so plenty of time for any harmful bacteria to break down.

Toxoplasmosis is more dangerous in cat faeces because that's where it's been proven to reproduce

The Wikipedia article is quite interesting.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasma_gondii

Toxop is a parasite (protozoa) not a bacteria. Giardia & Crypto are other unlovely parasites associated with feces. Am pretty sure lots of big critters can carry/shed/reproduce their oocysts. Home compost heaps won't reliably destroy the oocysts but then most of us who have had enough animal contact are immune to getting sick / we already carry the parasites anyway (chronically, sporadically).

Toxop is all over the place really. In soils & perhaps in majority of living warm blood creatures.

This thread has been useful to me.