I have one cat who is now pretty old and does her business indoors nearly all the time. I use clumping litter, and I bag what I scoop and put in the garbage, but I don’t feel good about it. Anybody have experience with composting solid pet waste? I have read that you can, if you set it up right and have a steady supply of fresh sawdust. Still doesn’t solve the litter issue, though. What to do?

BTW, if you live on high ground and away from watercourses, a doggie septic tank works great. My parents had one for their small dog. They only had to relocated it every couple of years, I think.

Not speaking about Decatur but there’s a crazy amount of variability about how communities handle this stuff. Some places you technically could own a dozen hellhounds but a 5 ounce parrot would be illegal (exotic!).

We worry about “farm animal” waste but not so much about pet waste. We mention it when we get mad about people not picking up after their own animals in public spaces but we never ever talk about what happens in people’s backyards. Well, some people leave things to decompose in place. Some add it to the landfill. And yes, some walk their dogs in the dark and don’t deal with it at all. And let’s not talk about cats, kitty litter, etc.

But talk about some eminently compostable hervibore poop and suddenly the dialogue is being written by the makers of Reefer Madness.

I challenge someone to do a photo journal about what happens to chicken or goat poop, allowed to naturally age and break down, vs. a pile of dog poop derived from supermarket kibble.

I’d rather see these operate as a co-op or managed by a non-profit, like a neighborhood swim and tennis club. Often I find it better to have use of something than to have total responsibility for it.

Who will look after my goats over spring break? Can I get a low premium, liability insurance policy for them, or would that be covered on my existing homeowner policy?