The Isle of Wight is bursting with animal lovers, whether they’re horse lovers, dog people, cat people, bird people or even weasel lovers, we’ve got them all here.
So it’s not surprising to often come across discussions about how to look after our pets. The latest debate we’ve seen is about how to dispose of cat waste from litter trays.
What’s the right thing to do?
An Island cat owner concerned about the risk of infecting the water supply with toxoplasmosis (nasty parasite found in cat waste) – and thereby impacting the health of humans and marine mammals – was keen to hear from other cat owners about what they did.
The overwhelming response to the question was “flush it down the loo”. Some people disagreed, saying the person who asked the question was correct – that it was dangerous to mammals who live in the water.
Don’t flush animal mess down the loo
OnTheWight got in touch with Southern Water to find out what the rules were.
A spokesperson told us,
“You should not flush animal poo down the toilet. The wastewater treatment process is only designed to treat human waste and animal poo has much higher levels of bacteria, as well as a higher nitrate content.
“For example, toxoplasmosis (a parasite found in cat faeces) cannot be destroyed by sewage treatment, and therefore escapes into our waterways, jeopardizing the health of marine mammals. Most litter manufacturers warn on their packaging not to flush feces or litter down the toilet, and that is the reason.
“The safest thing is to bag it and put it in the bin!”
So there we have it. Don’t flush it, but bag it and bin it. Cue sale of fragranced nappy sacks on the Isle of Wight ;-)
