Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with shit

Throw shit away in another person's can?

c:\awesome — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:36:33 -0800

Right or wrong: throwing away a tied-up plastic bag filled with your dog's feces into another person's trash can (with trash already in it) at the curb. I take my dog for walks twice daily, and when he shits, I place it in a plastic grocery bag, tie it up, and usually walk it back to my house, where I throw it away into my own trash can. Occasionally, however, I'm tempted to toss the poop bag into a neighbor's trashcan if I'm somewhat far away from my house.

Is this OK to do? I wouldn't think of throwing it into an empty trash can (as in, the trash had already been picked up) I'm on the fence about it. My wife says no. Is there a right answer here?

This is in a mid-sized city in the Midwest, U.S.A. The trash cans are the standard large plastic bins provided by a private, local trash company. They look similar to this.

Bum problems (gratuitous detail, NSFW).

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:01:19 -0800

Bum problems, possibly not (just) haemorrhoids (lots of detail, NSFW or in fact, lunch). Sometimes my arse leaks. Not olestra-style diarrhea squirts, but heinous-skidmark causing "paste"-consistency crap oozing out over the course of the day. This is often coupled with unbearable itching and in hot, sweaty weather chafing and stinging pain.

It may be somewhat diet-related as it happens more often when I'm traveling and my schedule is disrupted. What will happen is that I'll have a crap of a somewhat "pasty" consistency which never quite feels complete (unlike what I take to be normal, in that each turd is well-formed and has a definite start and end). I will wipe and wipe and wipe and keep wiping but the cleanest I get is a small brown smudge on the tp (despite there being no clingons—it's like as I wipe, poo-paste is continually emerging). Often, it also feels like more of my arsehole is "inside out" (and I can feel this when I wash in the shower too, there's a kind of smoother skin all around my bumhole rather than a neat pucker).

I went to my primary care provider who had a look and a poke and said, "Yep, there was obviously some external tissue tearing and chafing. Eat more fibre". It only kind-of helps (this is a problem which comes and goes). But I'm interested to know about the mechanism of having a crap—should some of the poo-chute emerge and then retract when a proper crap happens? What might be stopping this from happening? Is this merely a symptom of haemorrhoids? Is there anything else I can do to stop it or fix it when it happens (prep-H gives some relief but mostly leads to more grotesque skidmarks)? I'm an early-30s male.

Large bowel movements + low-flow toilet = problems.

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 20:27:10 -0800

Large bowel movements + low-flow toilet = problems. So, all the units in my building have low-flow toilets (1.6 gpf). Ordinarily they work pretty well, but since I've made some changes to my diet I've been having monster-sized feces. 10-12", and dense. Pretty much every time I go, the toilet gets clogged and I have to plunge it to get things moving.

I've resorted to opening up the tank and depressing the floaty thing to add a bit more water, but even that doesn't always help.

Any advice?

oh, poo

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 17:42:00 -0800

What could cause this particular intestinal condition? Yucky details inside. Let's put this straight as possible: I shit pebbles. Little piles of tiny turds. Maybe gravel, at largest. This is every day, quite regularly. I'm vegetarian, and I know I don't eat enough fiber, but even if I take Metamucil, nothing really changes. This has been going on for years, and is not painful or uncomfortable in any way. Just strange.

I know you are not my doctor. I know I should see a doctor, and maybe I will, when I find a primary care doctor I feel comfortable bringing this up with. But if anyone knows anything...well. Googling is not really helpful for this kind of question. Anonymous email set up at anonynony1@yahoo.com, if that's worth anything.

Digestion and the end result.

jason's_planet — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:43:56 -0800

This is a question about digestion and the end result. This is purely a matter of abstract curiosity. I promise not to provide too much information. OK . . . here goes:

At what point in the digestive tract does food start to resemble feces?

Is it in the large intestine? The colon? Does this vary for different types of food? Would yogurt, for example, convert to feces at a different point in the digestive tract than, say, a big piece of steak?

Does this vary for different people? Or is this point pretty universal?

Thanks for your time.

How to keep cats from bombing our yard?

canine epigram — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:00:05 -0800

How do I keep cats from crapping in our front yard? A neighbor down the street (we suspect old lady, we never see her) has several cats, some apparently (or maybe just one - we never catch the culprits in the act) who use our small patch of front garden as a litterbox. It stinks up the front walk something terrible.

An automatic sprinkler or something would be awesome, but that's not really feasible.

I've done some googling, but a lot of the results seem heavily anecdotal or folklorish - I'm looking for real solutions, and it's hard to tell which have basis in fact, and which are just wishful thinking.

tiny vials of ammonia? (won't that stink too?) buy coyote pee? or bobcat urine? (mentioned in an earlier askme - where the heck do I find that in an urban area?) coffee grounds?

Please, help us, MetaFilter, you're our only hope!

Stupid Littermaid!

wordsmith — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:14:51 -0800

My Littermaid cat poop box broke. Again. Are there any decent alternatives? Seems like lots of people have problems with these breaking. When they work, they're awesome, but this is the second unit I've purchased in two years.

My question: are there any decent alternatives (that are still automatic) to the Littermaid?

help me find a reference

daveyt — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 06:10:42 -0800

Please help me reference a literary quote? "god=love=money=shit"*. Where did I read that? In what book?? Driving me crazy and to be honest, and its far too long winded to explain, but remembering this might get me laid. (Which almost justifies the askmefi joining cost I reckon...)

* might have been written as "god equals love equals money equals shit" but my memory has played tricks on me for far too long now to accurately recall.

Wanna be a once-a-day man

Anonymous — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 04:51:35 -0800

Help me go to the toilet less often! We're talking #2s here.

As an adult I've often had, owing to a diet consisting of alcohol and pizza, periods where I mostly produced watery, splattery stuff, several times a day. (Trying to keep the description to a minimum here.)

Recently I've tried to modify my diet. Not obsessively or anything, but a lot of brown bread, rice, nuts, bananas, beans etc. Still a lot of alcohol though, I have to admit.

It's been reasonably successful in terms of, er, thickening things, but I'm having to go several times a day still.

Am I eating the right foods? I'm pretty ignorant about this: I just try to eat anything that seems to have high fibre on the packet. What would help me to get everything out in one go (or two)?

Part of this might be in my head. On days I spend alone, I can often go one or two times, and in the evening though I COULD manage to produce something I can leave it till morning if I like.

Other days, especially when I'm meeting my girlfriend, I get stressed beforehand and make repeated visits to the bathroom throughout the day before I meet her, trying to get rid of absolutely everything. If I have that feeling that I COULD go when I'm with her it's quite distracting, and even puts me off sex.

Maybe everyone feels they could go most of the time but it doesn't bother them. Does it just take practice?

This question is THE $hit.

Quazie — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 06:59:02 -0800

The $hit... We know that 'the' makes it positive, but why? What is the origin 'the $hit' as a positive thing? I'm currently a Teachers Assistant for a course at the University of Michigan. We were talking about the mid semester reviews that the students do on each teacher. I got the following comment 'Quazie is the shit'. I mentioned this in our weekly TA meeting with the teacher and she proceeded to ask if anyone got any positive feedback, she didn't realize that the addition of 'the' made shit a positive thing.

This led me to wonder, who determined/where did it come from/why does 'The' make 'Shit' positive.

I like poo!

uncanny hengeman — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 17:28:03 -0800

I'm looking for a poster drawing in the style of Where's Waldo? where everyone is shitting. I'm fairly sure it's European, probably French or Belgian. I've got a similar poster (possibly by the same artist) of people in a fun run, with a plethora of wacky things going on.

Basically, people are going about their daily business as per normal, except everyone's got one poking out the back. There is even a couple of motorcycle cops riding around mid-poo.

Artist or even a link to a pic would be great. I'm kicking myself I didn't buy it when I saw it all those years ago.

Shit, still in Saigon.

mwhybark — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 10:50:09 -0800

Who holds copyright to Hearts of Darkness^, and why did they block inclusion of the documentary in the recently-released Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier DVD set?

My Bloody Poopentine

rbs — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 09:28:42 -0800

I always have bloody poop after a night out drinking. Does that mean there's something wrong with me?

maybe this is a good thing

randomstriker — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 22:13:43 -0800

Haven't done a #2 in a few days now. No pain or discomfort whatsoever...anything to worry about? For most of my life I've been pretty regular. The only issues I've had with bowel movements have been when I've been obviously ill.

In the last couple months however I haven't been so regular, and in the last week I've almost stopped shitting altogether. I don't feel any bloating, pain or discomfort at all, just the occasional smelly fart. Certainly I could have some more fibre in my diet but I wouldn't say it's especially unhealthy as of late. I phoned my doctor and he said doesn't sound like anything worth going to see him for.

Should I worry?

Who pays the rent?

cillit bang — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 09:03:21 -0800

3 people sharing a flat: How are contracts to 3 separate people enforced? (UK) We're renting a flat through an agent and trying to work out:
a) If one of us sends written notice that they wish to leave, can the agents insist that only written notice from all of us is good enough?
b) If that person is let out of the contract, whether the rest of us are liable for more than our original 1/3?
c) If one person refuses to pay, the rest of us are liable for more than our original 1/3?

Our contract only mentions the total monthly rent amount, not our individual responsibilities. The relevant clauses in the contract are:

"As joint and several tenants to be responsible for all obligations under this agreement"
"To pay the rent, whether formally demanded or not, and all other sums..."
"The tenants have the right to determine their term by giving at least 2 months written notice..."

I guess I'm asking how 3 legally separate individuals can be bound by one contract. How can that possibly work?

I live in a dream world where swearing is acceptable.

cloeburner — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 07:03:23 -0800

Last night I jokingly sent an email to my college's internet maintenance crew [for lack of a better description].... The email contained a few choice words [fuck, shit, poop], but no threats and I even stated that I wasn't actually angry. Yet, this morning I received an email stating "This vulgar reply from you will be forwarded to the proper authorities and necessary actions may be taken." What does that mean, they can't truly take any action against me for exercising my free speech, right? Especially when I was just swearing about the system in what I perceived as a light-hearted manner.

My cat has started wiping his butt on our bed.

ssmith — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 07:30:35 -0800

My cat has started wiping his butt on our bed. It's really distressing to come home to these long brown streaks on our sheets. It happened once before (about a month and a half ago) but he's done it 3 times this week. It's hard to keep him locked out of our bedroom - it's doable but tricky. Besides, I'm worried he'd just do the wiping on something that's not as easy to wash, like our couch.

He's a strictly indoor cat, although he's managed to escape a few times recently. I'm worried he picked up something nasty that's caused him to make this change in his behavior. He hasn't had any diet changes and he's only 5 years old.

I'm going to be taking him to the vet to see if something's wrong, but in the meantime what the hell can I do to stop him?

To shit or not to shit?

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 15:30:07 -0800

How to handle chronic constipation? I've been constipated off and on (mostly on) since I was 10-11 years old. In adulthood, I tend to go once every 3-4 days. Some things (meds, metamucil, exercise) help, and occasionally I'll go daily for 5 or 6 days at a stretch, then it's back to being plugged up. The doctors have been pretty much useless, mostly recommending over-the-court meds, but some telling me that I should be taking metamucil at least once a day (apparently for the rest of my life).

Recently, I've had periods up to 6 days long without a bowel movement. Towards the end I feel like crap (pun intended) and my skin is awful. That prompted me to use an over-the-counter enema kit (worked pretty well) and one of the 'stimulant' anti-constipation drugs (useless).

But what am I going to do for the rest of my life? I hate having to think about how often I take a shit! I'm 35 and I don't relish decades of worrying about this and the negatives of constant constipation. I also don't like the idea of taking metamucil twice a day forever, though I don't know what negatives there are in doing so, if any.

As well, what -are- the negatives of chronic constipation, in terms of diseases that may kill me (colon cancer? Crohn's?)

Bookstores: the natural laxative?

nitsuj — Mon, 06 Jun 2005 07:20:46 -0800

Why do bookstores and libraries make me poop? At first I thought this was some sort of kindred-based phenomena; all the men in my family experienced similar reactions when visiting bookstores and libraries. Over time I've found that many of my aquaintinences also experience this same thing. Is this just a case of conditioning, or could there be some sort of chemical floating through the air that triggers excretion? How wide spread is this phenomena?

Pooper Scooper

vito90 — Fri, 04 Feb 2005 22:09:04 -0800

What goes through a dog's mind when it sees you picking up their shit? What goes through a dog's mind when it smells human pee while out on a walk?