Smaller Dog Stools Mean Easier Pick-up and Better Nutrition

Tired of picking up massive dog poo pies?  A change in diet will minimize Fido’s stools, making clean-up easier for you and nutrients more accessible to him. Highly digestible foods are absorbed better by a canine microbiome, and they produce less waste, boost your dog’s immune system, and decrease the risk of obesity.

You’ll find ingredients listed on every dog food can or package.  The first item listed should be a specific meat, such as beef, lamb, or chicken, not “by-products,” which could be virtually any part of the animal from fat to guts to digestate. It should be honest-to-goodness meat.  Sure – when a dog hunts down a rabbit and eats everything consumable, he or she is eating what would amount to by-products.  If the prey is healthy, at least those by-products are fresh and somewhat nutritious. Processed by-products?  Not so much.

After meat, rice is one of the more digestible ingredient fillers dogs can eat. Always avoid foods containing corn, which doesn’t break down well in canines. Corn results in big appetites and big stools.  Some whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and herbs can be beneficial, but be suspicious if you see a laundry list of cheap fillers such as meat or bone meal, fat, flour, protein concentrate, gluten, or potatoes.  If you see a roll call of unpronounceable preservatives on the label, snub the item as you would when choosing your own food. Salt, sugars, flavoring, and coloring should have no part in pet foods.

The law requires pet food manufacturers to add back vitamins and minerals that aren’t found in the primary ingredients or have been destroyed through processing.  So be wary of long strings of supplements at the end of the list.  And keep in mind that the words “natural” and “premium” have no legal meaning or regulation guidelines.

High-quality commercial brands are more expensive, but require fewer feedings to satisfy carnivore needs.  With smarter nutritional choices, doggie dumps will be smaller and your dog will experience less uncomfortable urgency.  Preparing homemade foods for you dog is a satisfying labor of love that will result in a healthier, happier pet.  Foods can be concocted in batches and frozen a month at a time.  Many raw and cooked recipes, along with portion instructions, are available online.  Here’s an example of what might go into an easy pooch pleaser:

  • Two types of raw meat (one an organ meat)
  • One green vegetable
  • Hard boiled eggs with mashed shells
  • Several cooked whole grains (rice, oats, wheat…)
  • Veggies and fruits on hand

As the techno geeks say, garbage in, garbage out.  Kick the ersatz fillers to improve your dog’s well-being and, in the bargain, make pick-ups easier for you and all of your best friend’s stewards.

Further reading:


Renewable Energy May Be Hot, but Waste Managers Are My Heroes

If you’re not involved in the trash or recycling industry, chances are good that innovations in collecting and processing our garbage are off your radar. When characters get nosy about Tony Soprano’s line of business, “waste management” is the wise-guy throwaway punchline. But today’s advanced trash operations are far from the old dump and cover or incineration solutions.  Many disposal operations are building bridges to a zero waste future.
Image courtesy of Diversified Recycling
Our company contracts with parks and dog daycares in Metro Denver to compost dog waste, so I subscribe to Waste360. This online media and events network provides information to solid waste, recycling, organics, and sustainable communities via daily emails with the latest industry buzz.

Sometimes my mind wanders into climate change doldrums. Will the big-time doers follow through on their promises to slow down global warming? Do eco-conscious consumers have the will to shift behavior and demand meaningful policies? And by the way, my tiny household recycling space is a frozen tundra. Will taking our food scraps out to the curb with the trash be one more downer?

On days like these, the Waste 360 newsfeed can be as bracing as a fresh breeze. Amid the nuts and bolts posts about lawsuits, mergers, and acquisitions, you’ll see occasional updates on environmental advances. And, no lie! There are so many industry pros out there making real progress that I wonder why only local and business news outlets cover the stories. Here are the latest bytes:

  • A Louisiana solid waste district’s facility fuels trash trucks with biogas emitted from its landfill, and it shares compressed biogas with vehicles at an additional remote station.
  • The New York City Department of Sanitation is expanding its e-cycleNYC to provide residential pick-up services to more than 500,000 households.
  • New York’s Lewis County will be hauling its mixed recyclables miles away to a recycling center with sorting capability to offer its customers the convenience of single-stream collections.

These are just a few examples of how progressive waste managers all over the country are going beyond business-as-usual to foster sustainability.  Whether they work for private companies or public authorities, they take their environmental stewardship seriously.  These professionals are aware that a landfill is a no-win answer. They’re trying to divert as many recyclables from their plastic-lined tombs as possible. They’re trying to incorporate waste-to-energy programs into their operations. Like most of us, their options are limited.  But many of them are working hard to expand our disposal options.

The for-profit waste managers need to make business cases for each step toward near zero waste. County and municipal operators have to justify the expense of environmental projects to taxpayers.  Many waste companies and jurisdictions proactively pursue government grants and creative arrangements with outside recycling innovators to reach their goals.

Given their limitations, waste managers are tireless unsung heroes on the front lines of sustainability. The industry suffers from a long history of low status, drudgery and invisibility.  Facilities grab attention only when they produce nuisance odors.  We want the trash we produce to be “out of sight, out of mind, out of range.”  But doesn’t waste management’s humble efforts to save the planet deserve as much recognition and resources as its sexier renewable energy cousins?

Back in the day, Dad always gave our dedicated trash hauler a bottle of good Scotch for Christmas. What can we do today to show our waste management eco partners that we appreciate what they are doing?

Recommended Reading:
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Reduce Your Dog’s Carbon Poo Print One Flush at a Time

Chances are good that you’ve had the same thought as thousands of eco-savvy dog stewards: “Every day I pick up poop in a plastic bag and throw it in the garbage.  How dumb is that?”

Does it make better sense to simply flush it down the toilet?  If you have an average sized dog — say, a 25-lb. beagle — you dispose of around 274 pounds of dog waste a year.  That might be more than you weigh!  Multiple dogs, of course, up the ante.  Flushing is not a novel idea.

Plans for animal shelters and dog daycares now design flushing systems into the kennel areas so that they can be easily cleaned.  Caretakers simply hose waste directly into built-in drains that flow into the same sanitary sewers servicing human toilets.  So the dog waste winds up at a local treatment facility.  After sanitation, the water can be released or reused and the left-over sludge, might be re-purposed as a soil conditioner.

Flushing has always been a reliable solution for people with small, elderly or disabled dogs that do their business in a controlled indoor area such as a litter box or synthetic grass pan.  In these cases, scoopers or even toilet paper are useful for pick up.   But what if your dog downloads outdoors?  Is it worthwhile bringing the booty home for a flush? If you’re game to try flushing and have a moderate “ick factor” threshold, bear with me.

Flushing loose dog waste is far from convenient.  And you can’t flush dog waste in a regular plastic pick-up bag.  Do you really want to send a bag that will never degrade in a meaningful time frame to your local treatment plant’s garbage patch?

But if flushing dog poo seems like a reasonable approach to you, try thinking outside the standard plastic bag.  Consider using flushable polyvinyl alcohol dog bags that are “hyrdo-biodegradable.”  But before buying in whole hog (dog?), consider the pros and cons.

Flushables cost around 12-20 cents per bag, so they’re more expensive than commercial plastic pick-up bags.  But you can find some real bargains online.  Read the claims and reviews carefully before hitting the “buy” button.  You might want to compare several bags in small quantities before coming to conclusions about their usefulness and purchasing in bulk.

These bags may not stay intact when transporting dog doo long distances, so you might need to use them in combination with a waterproof container or baggie.  There are also many fine-looking leak-proof, washable totes, pouches and clip-on holders on the market that are made for that purpose.

Before using your flushable bag, experiment to see how long the bag will hold up without disintegrating at room temperature.  You can do this by filling the bag with wet food scraps and setting it in the sink.  While you can’t always perfectly time your doggie road trips or control the heat of the day, at least you won’t have any surprises regarding bag performance.  Keep the process green by knotting the top of the flushable.

If your dog has giant paws or you pick up after multiple pets, don’t dispose of a sizable doo dump in a single flush.  The bags may be flushable, but none claim to be miraculous.  The labyrinth of traps, wax rings and closet bends inside residential toilets were never intended to handle mega masses, let alone mega masses compressed in bags.

Newer toilets have larger openings and are less likely to overflow than older models.  You do not want dog waste collecting in your toilet waiting for a plumber to arrive.  You do not want dog waste backing up over your floor.  Be conservative and use common sense when testing your toilet’s capacity for flushables. Use multiple bags with limited contents whenever possible.

Don’t flush dog waste into toilets connected to septic tanks.  Dog waste contains quite a bit of fur and the bacteria in tanks do not readily digest hair.  Hairy residue could obstruct emitters that drain effluent into the soil, requiring the services of your favorite honey dipper.

You’ve probably seen online lessons on how to toilet train your cat.  Bad idea!  Feline poo might contain Toxoplasma gondii, a disease agent affecting marine mammals, pregnant women, and people with compromised immune systems.  You don’t want to release that stubborn parasite into waterways.

But, if you have a really smart, eager-to-please, dare-I-say saintly dog, you might entice him or her to pot-sit.  Yes, people teach them to do that.  Search “train dog to use toilet” and let me know how it goes.  Be sure to leave him or her the latest edition of the Daily Wag.

Whether you have a single dog, a small pack, or run a pet care facility, a separate outdoor flushing system for pets might work well for you.  Any dedicated septic system for dogs will be pricey.  The least expensive option requires contracting with a reputable plumber to install a direct access line into the sanitary sewer connection on your property.  Doo can simply be dropped or washed into an entry hatch.  Be sure to include a lid or other mechanism to trap sewer odor.

Manufacturers offer some truly inventive systems for dog waste flushing at high-volume facilities.  Products with whimsical names like “Powerloo” and “Whoopsie Away” are easy to find via online searches.  All require professional installation.

At the exit end of the sewer line, flushed dog waste is processed and tested per EPA standards. The resulting biosolids might be buried, landfilled or (best-case scenario) used as a fertilizer.  You can even buy bagged soil amendments made from sewage sludge to top dress your lawn or feed your garden.

The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District, a pioneer in this field, has been producing and distributing Milorganite for 85 years.  These heat-dried biosolid pellets are available at garden centers throughout the country.  Other waste facilities have been following Milwaukee’s lead, turning treated solid waste into natural fertilizer and reducing the need to manufacture chemicals or mine minerals to enrich soil.

If flushing proves to be a practical approach for your household, you’ll dispose of fewer plastic bags, divert organic waste from your local landfill, and recycle your dog’s waste – all gifts to the natural world.

Further reading:
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Dog and Cat Populations Are Approaching Human Numbers – Where Are the Pooch and Kitty Loos?

One hundred seventy-nine million dogs and cats live in the U.S. That’s more than the number of people who called this place home in 1959. Back in the days of doo-wop, pets roamed free and did their business wherever. Outdoor cats buried their droppings discretely; we never saw it. Nobody cleaned up after dogs.  Our job was to not step in it.

Fast forward to 2015. The U.S. pet population has grown to nearly half the human population, the highest concentration of pets in the world. Urban dogs and cats are no longer free range. We’re now expected to clean up after our pets, a process expedited by biodegradable poop bags, fragrant clay litter, and kitty bum wipes.

Yes, we’ve commodified pet care big time. The American Pet Products Association estimates that we’ll spend $60.59 billion on our pets in 2015. But we do a disservice to our pets – lights of our lives, best friends, playmates and family members – as long as we deny our responsibility as their environmental stewards. Much has been written about our pets’ conspicuous consumption and carbon paw prints. But we overlook what’s in plain sight:  the simple fact that we have no sensible, sustainable infrastructure in place for disposing of pet waste.

There’s no way around it; the rascals generate mounds of poo.  Our 83 million dogs produce 11 million tons of waste each year—enough to fill more than 100 football fields 10 feet deep.  Our 93 million cats download five million tons (500,000 dump trucks full) of poop and litter per year.

Sixty percent of dog waste and most cat waste is bundled in plastic and trashed: streamed to sealed local landfills where it takes generations to degrade while emitting methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.  The plastic wrap is a forever gift to the universe. As for the 40% of dog waste left at ground zero, don’t kid yourself, poo is potent stuff.

For a small bay watershed (up to 20 square miles), two to three days of droppings from a population of 100 dogs contribute enough bacteria, nitrogen, and phosphorus to temporarily close a bay to swimming. Dog poop left along trails or walkways threatens native plants while spoiling urban landscapes. And it’s still your job to not step in it.

Eco-minded pet removal services, dog day cares, shelters, dog park managers, and vets search for alternatives to dumpsters.  No one but trash haulers will take pet waste.  Food scrap and yard waste recycling programs list pet waste on the “no” side of acceptable refuse. Water treatment plants won’t process large offerings of pet poo. Biodigesters and other trash-to-energy operations are scarce in the U.S.

The EPA says “go for it” – go ahead and flush that dog doo down the toilet. Not real convenient or appealing, right?  The feds leave pet waste disposal to the states, which often delegate responsibility to local jurisdictions (“You take it…no, you take it”). Some districts offer residents rebates to purchase pet waste composting systems or sponsor pet waste recycling classes. Most say trashing is the only option, cautioning pet owners to “double bag it.”

Ah – but don’t we have bigger dogs in the race to zero waste?  Aren’t our huge quantities of food scraps and yard waste a bigger priority?  According to the EPA’s “Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: 2013 Fact Sheet,” food accounts for 14.6% of residential waste and has a paltry 2.1% recovery rate.  We have a better handle on recycling yard trimmings, which make up 13.5% of refuse but have a 23.6% recovery rate thanks to longstanding municipal collections and traditional composters.

A 2006 San Francisco analysis found that pet poop comprised nearly 4% of residential waste. This might be a conservative figure since trash from pet business and parks wasn’t part of the tally. Why should we be concerned with 4% of the pie chart when food and yard waste add up to 28%?

For one thing, carnivore waste, like raw human waste, involves serious sanitation and pollution issues. Collecting and recovering organics containing harmful pathogens require due diligence, systematic treatment and testing.  Most organics recycling facilities aren’t technologically or financially equipped to accommodate potentially hazardous source material.

But, when it comes to long-range planning, let’s be practical.  While we’re developing systems to efficiently boost food and yard waste recycling, shouldn’t we be combining pet waste and disposable diaper recovery with these two other source materials? Shouldn’t we be thinking our way around comingled pet waste, plastic bags, and clay litter at the product source?

The average dog poops more per day than the average person.  The average cat produces somewhat less waste but also generates an indeterminate amount of trashed litter. Throw in the tons of plastic we use in a foolhardy attempt to sanitize this absurd process.

Add it up and you find that U.S. pets in 2015 generate roughly the same amount of solid waste as the U.S. human population in 1959. Can you imagine an advanced country in 1959 not providing a practical sanitary disposal system that works for its 178 million people? I have a hard time wrapping my head around that one and hope you do, too.

Pet Poop Facts

Human population in 1959: 177,829,628 – U.S. Census Bureau

Current pet population: 83 million dogs, 96 million cats in the U.S., total 179 million – U.S. Humane Society

Pet population concentrations

Top Ten Countries With Most Pet Dog Population
Top Ten Countries With Most Pet Cat Population

Pet products spending

Pet Industry Market Size & Ownership Statistics

Pet waste quantities

  • Average dog produces .75 lbs. of waste per day (U.S. Dept. of Agriculture)
  • Average cat produces .3 lbs. of waste per day (no data, based on author verification)
  • Dog waste weighs average of 35 lbs. per sq. ft. (no data, based on weight provided by Sam Johnson, owner, Pet Scoop, Denver, Colorado)
  • Assumption: cat waste and dog waste have similar weight

Football field math / dogs

  • 83M dogs x .75 = 62,250,000 lbs. per day or 22,721,250,000 lbs. per year or 11,360,625  tons per year or  around 11.4 M tons of dog waste per year
  • 1 football field = 57,600 sq. ft. (includes end zones)
    dogs produce 22,721,250,000 lbs. waste per year
  • 1 cu. ft. of dog waste = 35 lbs.
    22,721,250,000 lbs. divided by 35 lbs. = 649,178,571.429 cu. ft. 649,178,571.429 cu. ft. covers 64,917,857.1429 sq. ft. and is 1 ft. deep 64,917,857.1429 sq. ft. divided by 57,600 sq. ft. = 1,127.04613095  football fields 1 ft. deep or 112.704613095 football fields 10 ft. deep

Dump truck math / cats

  • 96M cats X .3 = 28,800,000 lbs. per day or 10,368,000,000 lbs. per year or 5,184,000 tons per year or 5.2M tons of cat waste per year. 5,200,000 tons divided by 500,000 = 10.4 tons, average dump truck capacity

Dog waste water pollution

“For a small bay watershed (up to 20 square miles), 2 to 3 days of droppings from a population of 100 dogs contribute enough bacteria, nitrogen, and phosphorus to temporarily close a bay to swimming and shellfishing.”  Pollution Prevention Management Measure

Human waste quantities

On average humans excrete 128 g (.28 lb.) of fresh feces per person per day – Rose, C.; Parker, A.; Jefferson, B.; Cartmell, E. (2015). “The Characterization of Feces and Urine: A Review of the Literature to Inform Advanced Treatment Technology”. Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology 45 (17): 1827–1879.doi:10.1080/10643389.2014.1000761. ISSN 1064-3389.

(.28 lbs. vs. .75 ave. dog)

But that’s an educated guess. Because, as it turns out, there are no definitive figures. In his book Nanomedicine, Dr. Robert A. Freitas Jr. cites three studies in putting his daily figure at 100-200 grams — that is, .22 to .44 pounds a day. A 1992 study in Gastroenterology found an average of 106 grams a day among 220 UK residents, but with the caveat that “data from other populations of the world show average stool weight to vary from 72 to 470 g/day.” The Merck Manual says that Westerners grunt out 100-300 grams a day (.22 – . 66 or .44 lb.). See more

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