Fecal Matters
There are many excuses not to pick up poop: “I forgot my baggie”, “It was too mushy”, “I didn’t notice her going because I was talking”, “I was in a rush”, “It’s good for the earth, leave it, it’s composting, right?”…but folks I have to tell you, picking up after your pet, especially in a shared living community, is essential to everyone’s pets and personal health.
In eleven years of practice, one thing I have seen repetitively is owners with pets who live in a shared community battling one parasite or another. There are a slew of intestinal parasites out there: roundworms, hookworms, whipworms, giardia, and coccidia just to name the most common. Some only affect pets and some are zoonotic, which means they can affect us as well. Roundworms can cause human blindness. Whipworms can migrate under human skin causing track marks. Giadia causes diarrhea and flu-like symptoms in some people. Some parasites are almost impossible to remove from the environment once the ground is contaminated, surviving extreme lengths of time and climate change.
Protect your fellow neighbors and pets! Remember, fecal matters and pick up that poop!