What's the safest way to deal with tons of old cat poop?
October 18, 2015 9:11 AM   Subscribe

What's the safest way to deal with tons of old cat poop?

I live in an apartment complex in Alameda, CA. Until yesterday, I'd never ventured to the far end of my patio in the six months I've lived here. It appears that, either a neighbor cat* or a stray(s) has been using a portion of my patio as a litter box (It may be my sweet neighbor's 20 year old cat who passed a couple of weeks ago). It looks like years and years worth in the sand. It's a 10x10 area. I poked with a stick, and it looks like it goes down 2-3 inches. What's worse is that it's right under my bedroom window (no idea why I could never smell it).

I'd really like to make use of this space to setup a table and chairs. I won't be using it for growing anything. I know that cat poop is a significant hazard due to toxoplasmosis and b) ew. How can I deal with this? Can I just cover it up with more sand? And cover the sand with something else? Is there some safe chemical (lime?) I could pour over it? I live on a lagoon, so something that won't harm the wildlife is critical. If I actually need to remove it, what the easiest and safest way to collect and dispose of it? If it was caused by my neighbor's cat, it's unlikely that I'll ask for help with this, for various reasons.

Thanks.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts to Home & Garden (16 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Shovel, heavy-duty garbage bags (don't fill them very much, that shit gets heavy fast), trash can or dumpster.

I would then cover that area with the cheapest gravel available, because it's likely not just one cat. It doesn't need to be a deep layer of gravel, but it does need to be big enough gravel to be unattractive as litter, so I'd say bean-sized at the smallest.

They're almost certainly peeing there if they're shitting there, so it is actually surprising you never smelled it, but you need to get rid of it. Toxo is only really a concern in fairly new feces, if I remember correctly, and it's everywhere anyway so it's not really that, it's just that an open pit of feces is a bad idea generally.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:25 AM on October 18, 2015 [3 favorites]


Yep, shovel and bags, 2 inches of poop depth equals 16 cubic feet of stuff to be disposed of, throw it in the dumpster behind the building.. Then you might want to lay some heavy plastic, then gravel as suggested (or patio blocks?)...
posted by HuronBob at 9:28 AM on October 18, 2015 [2 favorites]


This is an apartment complex, yes? Maybe this is something you should bring up with the landlord? "Hey, this space I'm renting is covered in poop, what can we do about this?"
posted by The otter lady at 9:36 AM on October 18, 2015 [22 favorites]


Don't add sand unless you want more cats to use the facilities!

I had good luck reclaiming an area from cats by putting down sharp, jagged gravel. The big box home stores did not quite have what I was looking for -- too smooth, not unpleasant to step on -- but the local nursery did and it cost me about $5 to cover a 2' x 8' area 2" deep. Gravel can be really nice for a seating area, put some potted plants here and there and you have a chic landscape.
posted by stowaway at 9:57 AM on October 18, 2015 [2 favorites]


And if it looks like this is going to be recurring issue, one way to stop it is setting up a sprinkler system activated by motion detectors. Saw that on My Cat from Hell recently.
Cats hate that kind of surprise!
posted by TenaciousB at 10:08 AM on October 18, 2015 [3 favorites]


The jagged gravel is called road base, and you can buy it in the rough diameter you want.
posted by Oyéah at 10:21 AM on October 18, 2015 [3 favorites]


Slate chippings also work well to deter cats. Don't bother with bark though - cats seem to like that.
posted by pipeski at 11:07 AM on October 18, 2015


Road base is exactly what you want - but remove anything you can see or smell first. If you can see or smell it, it's basically like the Vegas strip as far as animals (including the bugs that like eating cat poop) are concerned.
posted by SMPA at 11:37 AM on October 18, 2015


Yes, this isn't a problem you should have to solve yourself. I'd call your property management and ask them to deal with it.
posted by JenMarie at 12:06 PM on October 18, 2015 [1 favorite]


Just to ease your worry, this seems to me no more dangerous than a giant cat litter box, and millions of people clean those out every single day. Speaking for those million, all we use is what effectively amounts to a shovel and a garbage bag, so i'll agree with the above suggestions for that disposal route.
posted by cgg at 12:09 PM on October 18, 2015


I don't know how it would work outside, or if it's bad for the environment, but I'd consider spraying some enzymatic cleaner, like Nature's Miracle or Anti-Icky Poo around after cleaning the poop, but before putting down whatever rocks or gravel you want to use. If cats pooped there, it's a pretty safe bet that they peed there too, and you're going to want to get rid of any lingering scents (even if you can't smell them) so more cats won't smell it and think that that's the place to go. (I prefer Anti-Icky Poo, but Nature's Miracle is easier to find.)
posted by Weeping_angel at 12:14 PM on October 18, 2015 [2 favorites]


I'm pregnant and needed to do some weeding in a cat-frequented area, so I recently read up on toxoplasmosis. (I didn't look at peer-reviewed journals, just CDC-type guidance.)

Toxoplasmosis is generally acquired in a hand-to-mouth way, so I'd wear gloves, then wash up and clean under my fingernails afterwards. Where I personally went wrong was that my gloves were short enough that dirt still entered at the wrist. You might use those elbow-length dish gloves instead.

Most fact sheets just recommended that pregnant women wear gloves, but much less often, I saw some mention of inhalation as a route for contamination. That was what I was trying to rule out, and ultimately, I couldn't. You could wear a face mask for extra assurance. I do think it's erring on the side of caution.

If your concern stretches as far as wanting to make sure you didn't get exposed, there are tests for exposure that you could ask your doctor about. Also, a self-pay lab in Oakland can administer them. There are two -- one more reliable, but not likely to show results for several weeks, and one less reliable, but more likely to show results in days to a week or so. Let me know if you want help tracking down more info.
posted by slidell at 12:54 PM on October 18, 2015 [1 favorite]


We have a service here in the DC area called Doody Calls - people who specialize in animal waste pickup. Maybe there is something like that in your area?
posted by candyland at 5:23 AM on October 19, 2015 [1 favorite]


Doing this yourself is not just labor-intensive, but an expense if you have to buy gravel and so on. Also, if you change the landscaping without asking, your landlord might get huffy about it.

So maybe come up with a plan to propose to your landlord; "hey this is the situation, I did some research and it's going to take a lot of shoveling and bags plus some jagged gravel on top to discourage return visitors. If you want, I can do it but I'd like to take x amount out of my rent for the next month."

Chances are, they'll send their own people out to do it rather than wanting to do that, which could be good or bad (why oh why do so many landlords hire drunk idiots as a handyman and then have to pay for a professional anyway to fix what they messed up? I wish I knew. But they all seem to do it.) So be prepared to have to tweak what they do.

It sucks, but it's not your property, so you should probably go the official route first if you can.
posted by emjaybee at 7:51 AM on October 19, 2015


Toxoplasmosis is very dangerous in pregnancy, so if you are pregnant you should not do this yourself.
posted by yohko at 9:30 AM on October 19, 2015


Response by poster: Thanks for suggestions. I contacted the building management. They are strangely dancing around it and won't even respond to our request for them to clean it. All they said was, "this is why we have a policy that all cats on the premises must have litter boxes", but no response to the request to clean it. I have to wonder if it's some kind of liability worry on their part.

And now, it seems we have a raccoon pooping and marking. Ugh.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 2:26 PM on October 22, 2015


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