Composting Pet Waste

duane wrote:
(snip)

If you try to eliminate a toxin
within the same kingdom,
the system will degenerate

(snip)

If you try to kill a virus
within the same kingdom,
the system will degenerate

(snip)

If species from less than
five kingdoms interact,
the system degenerates
according to the
2nd law of thermodynamics

What do you mean by eliminate a toxin / kill a virus "within the same kingdom?"  I don't get it.

Also, don't...er...most things degenerate according to the 2nd law of thermo?

"What do you mean by eliminate a toxin / kill a virus "within the same kingdom?"  I don't get it." 

one creatures toxins are another's food. these should be recirculated thru as many kingdoms as possible before returning back to the one who started.

animal waste feed to plants that is fed back to the same animals involve risks

animal waste feed to bacteria, fungi, algae to plants that is fed back to other animals whose waste is fed to bacteria, fungi, algae to plants which is fed to original animals is much safer and stable. the more stable a system is, the less outside input (you) that is needed to keep it going.

"Also, don't...er...most things degenerate according to the 2nd law of thermo?"

yes, BUT, what causes things to generate in the first place?

the 2nd law is actually one half of a law.

when life give you lemons, make lemonade
when it give you pet waste, make botique fertilizer
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/22/BU9Q1J5A9B.DTL

Old thread, I know, but this is a question I have myself, and I wanted to put forth my own current solution.
I have a raised bed, some 2' deep, with a pipe sunk into the side. Two feet under that is where the previous dog is buried, so this was always going to be a "special" bed.
The bed had some aged(2 years in a barrel, was growing some volunteer 'maters by then) dog poop, and some plant matter,soil, etc.
What I do is drop the poop down the pipe, and throw some leaves or paper after it. I also have been peeing down this pipe, and I am considering adding some compost worms.
The general idea is to build up the bed another foot, and then plant a Mulberry Tree, for leaves and berries.
The only low growing plants to go into this bed would be nitrogen fixer/green mulch(any suggestions?) .
So, I use the pipe to put dog poop and human pee deep into the soil, and only eat food that is grown 5-6 'above the ground.
If it works well, I might start adding bones and meats.

The other thing I was thinking one might do with this stuff is biochar it. The temps will kill anything and destroy prions as well.

A more interesting use of the dog poop most certainly IMHO would be for biogas

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-reese-halter/dog-poo-power-goes-global_b_1648239.html

I have a question regarding composting pet waste. Many many people tend to use the clumping litter for many reasons but we all know how bad clumping litter is for the environment. Still people buy it. How do we target this litter and find effective solutions for its demise or decomposition? As we already know, mushroom remediation is simply planting mushrooms in contaminated areas. Of course it is far more detailed than that. Mushrooms have the ability to literally take up complex molecules, even oils and medicines, and break them down into harmless substances. Mushrooms have been used to remediate vast contaminated areas in very short periods of time. My question would be, is there a way to create a sturdy, basic, composter (either in ground or above) that can hold cat/dog/ferret (whatever) litter whether it be fresh, dried, clumping or what-have-you and that can take mushroom seeding and growth to decontaminate it? Does anyone have some scientific-based comment for this? It would be a great way to tackle the overwhelming use of clumping litters and NOT threaten ground water systems and therefore aquatic habitats.

albertpostema Hatfield wrote:Hi everyone, new here, yet it already feels like home. Thanks Paul for the heads up.

Just throwing in three and a half cents on this dog manure issue. We have just recently worked on a "pet policy" for a newly forming deep ecological community.   The parasite issues, the composition of the manure, etc were all valid issues. ie; are they eating organic food? If not what is in their food? Concerns were for our organic certification, as well as general health safety and the community values. 

END RESULT   First, if we have it, dog manure is organic matter and should be kept onsite.  No free ranging though, to control random dispersal.  All manure collected and composted seperatly in a dry location with the end results being added to the composted paper stream.  This mixture is then put into into the tree based hugelkulture. 

(Paper recycling is really just a different way to throw away garbage. Dont let your organic matter leave, COMPOST )

Secondly,  discussion about  pet compatibility with deep ecology tabled.
    Hopefully for awhile...ha.

ps. I have attached a produced document full of web research on dog manure and its ecological impacts.  The EPA identifies dog manure as a non-point source of pollution, so its definitly not benign.

A brief read of the link provided yielded an interesting point. In discussing the variety of parasites found in the waste products of dogs were included "hookworms, ringworms and roundworms..." Of note is the fact that there is no such thing as ringworms. Ringworm is a fungal disease of the skin and has no relationship to any form of "worm".
Just caused me to chuckle a bit.

What do you think of combining poo with cellulose and making bio-char?

Brenda Groth wrote:well what about wild dog poop? coyote?

over the many years people have had dogs and didnt have to worry about dog poop..however..maybe there are modern pathogens that weren't around then, dont' know..but my guess is use common sense.

if you live in a small city yard..nope..get rid of it elsewhere..however..if you live on acerage like i do..i'm sure you could dig a pit where there is NO high water table..bury it..throw in a few leaves and other compost type materials..and some dirt..and plant a tree on top of it..

in the old days they always planted a tree whenever they moved their outhouses to a new hole..

Wow! The outhouse hole and the tree. That is some old/collective wisdom. Thanks for sharing.

Looking under the lens of composting dog waste...

The biggest question, for me, involve the potential for the exitance of parasites that could effect people. As mentioned previously, roundworm is the shining example of a common parasite that is difficult to deal with once its presence is found. If a dogs manure contains roundworm and roundworm eggs, it can be tricky to deal with them. Currently, there is not strong evidence that I have seen that thermophilic composting processes in an at-home compost system would eliminate roundworm or their eggs. I have seen evidence that properly processed windrow composting has the ability to deal with roundworms which shows promise.

For me, I have a compost pile that I am treating like humanure to help process pet waste. The intent of the finished compost is to enrich spaces for pollinator spaces not frequently traveled by myself or my animals.

Cats poop anywhere with loose soil, and foxes and coywolves , raccoons, possums, skunks, all  poop in or around my yard. I never bothered to actively compost my dogs waste but instead just buried it in shallow holes in my pounded gravel driveway. The only thing that grows in the driveway are thistles that I’m not going to eat, and the soil is not good.