CAN YOU FLUSH DOG POOP DOWN THE TOILET?

If you have one or more dogs, you know how much they can poop. Dog poop is messy, smells, and it can take up space in your yard quickly.

This is a problem anytime, but especially when the weather is nice and you want to run around in the yard, barefoot or otherwise. You pick it up with dog poop bags, but what to do with the dog poop after you have picked it up?

When poop is flushed down your toilet, it ends up in the local sewer treatment facility. Here, most of the pollutants are removed before it goes into the river or stream.

Flushing your dog’s poop in your toilet isn’t going to harm the person who uses that toilet immediately after it’s flushed. It also isn’t going to cause any severe pollution of rivers or streams.

That being said, you should talk with the treatment center to make sure they’re able to deal with the pathogens that pet waste often contains. Dog waste can contain ToxocaraCanis, or roundworm eggs, and not every waste facility is equipped to handle that.

Flushing dog poop down the toilet – without a bag, only the waste – is perhaps the best disposal method, says the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Resources Defense Council.

Cat feces should never be flushed, as it may contain Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite that can infect people and animals. Municipal water treatment systems do not always kill this parasite.

Do not flush dog waste if you are on a septic system! Processing pet waste may exceed the design capacity of your septic system. High volumes of hair and ash, not found in human waste, can clog the drain field.

CAN YOU FLUSH DOG POOP DOWN THE TOILET?