02/20/2023
Friends and Followers, please be aware animal poo đź’© does spread yucky awful stuff to not only other animals but to people as well, especially children. Be responsible and let's get the poo cleaned up!
Hey you! Yeah, you there! Read this!
Over 40% of Americans do not pick up their dog’s waste, in public. Over 60% of Dog owners do not pick up their dog’s waste in their own yard. This is a big problem, many of the diseases and parasites that dog’s carry is shed through their poo and can infect humans; especially small children who tend to play in the dirt and mud. This can and often causes long term health problems.
The first thing to realize is dog poo will not breakdown on its own!
An exceptionally large portion of our population believes that dog p**p will break down or just wash away in a few days or weeks. This is very incorrect; dog poo can take 12 months or longer to fully break down.
During rain when rainwater washes over the dog poo it does not break down and just disappear, it breaks apart and flows into the drainage systems, contaminating them. Then the contaminated water is carried into the lakes, streams, and rivers which in turn will get into the water supply we use to get our drinking water from! Also, this means the next time you go swimming at your favorite spot, you could be swimming in p**py water; again, which can lead to you getting infected with diseases and parasites carried by the dog poo.
Upon reading and researching there are studies that have shown that up to 30% of bacteria found in our water supply (including lakes, springs, and rivers) come from pet poo (including cat poo)!
America has about 83 million pet dogs, that is a lot of poo to be cleaned up. Again, now think back to the beginning of this post, over 40% of the pet owners do not pick up their pet’s poo in public!
As I spoke on earlier in this post, regardless, if your dog is showing symptoms or not; their poo can carry diseases that are harmful to you and other pets. The parasites, bacteria, and diseases that dogs can carry in their poo can spread to not only other dogs, but it can spread to you and your children or loved ones if not thoroughly cleaned up. Giardiasis, Parvovirus, Cryptosporidiosis, Salmonellosis, Campylobacteriosis, E. coli, salmonella, and many types of intestinal worms like roundworm, whipworms, and tapeworm are just some of the yucky stuff that is carried in dog poo.
By not being a responsible pet owner and not picking up after your dog, you are putting yourself, your family - pets, other people, and other people's pets at risk to the harmful, and sometimes deadly, parasites, bacteria, and diseases. Some parasites and diseases like Giardiasis and Parvovirus can stay in the soil for several years. The more harmful things like Parvovirus can actually live up to 10 YEARS in the soil in the right areas. Along with other passing pets, people who work in or around gardens and children playing in areas that are used by pets to relieve themselves are at the most risk for infection.
This goes in hand that dog and cat poo is NOT A FERTILIZER!
There is an astounding amount of people who think that dog or cat poo is a good and natural fertilizer. This is very much not true. Why do you think that your grass turns yellow and dies if you allow your dog’s poo to sit there and “breakdown” on its own? Yup that’s right dog poo is remarkably high in nitrogen and phosphorus which kills grass and plants. It's almost like pouring straight bleach on your grass and plants. It is very toxic and as you have read here when not cleaned up can wreak havoc on not only our waterways and yards but can cause infections and damage our bodies.
Also before I end this I want to mention that cleaning up after your pet is just plain and simple common courtesy and it is your responsibility as a pet owner to do so! No one wants to be taking a lovely walk and step in dog poo! No one wants to be working in their garden and find pet poo there! No one wants to clean poo off a child at a playground, and no one wants to deal with sickness with their pets, their children or themselves just because a pet owner was too lazy to clean up after their pet! Yes, it is just downright lazy and irresponsible to not pick up after your pet, especially while you are out in a public area!
- Marbany Kennels
(* picture courtesy of muttmitt.com *)
