Even cats need fiber in their diets, and supplemental grass makes for happy felines. They also get trace minerals and vitamins from grass, and [hack~hack] it helps with hairballs.
It is easy to grow, so I try to keep a bit on hand for the boys. Unfortunately, it grows fast, dies out fast, and requires frequent replanting to assure a regular supply, but seeds planted today can be ready in three, four days for nibbles.
Andy especially likes his greens!
It isn’t necessary to grow a lot at one time, though I have tried growing it in a large enough container that a large cat (Louie the ginger cat, at 24 pounds, 10.82 kg) could lounge in it without having to go outside or wait for the warmer seasons when grass flourishes outside.
That was too alien for the boys, though. Bat the grass with one’s paws. Eat the grass. Sniff the grass. But lie in the grass! They are “city sheepies”! What do they know about such things?
We had a cat who would eat anything green that got within range (soon we were totally plant-free). When my father-in-law moved out of his house, he gave us a beautiful spider plant he’d been growing for years. Many generations of spiders. We brought it home Sunday. When we got home from work Monday, there was about 1/2″ of green sticking up from the dirt.
LOL! I can visualize the frenzy that poor plant was subhected to before kitty had it stripped down to that nub! I planted a nice sized catnip plant in the garden one time, but set up a cage around it. A neighborhood kitten still managed to reach through the cage to turn the catnip plant into salad!
There’s no stopping a determined cat.
Amen to that!
Ali, being the unique little creature she is, vomits grass worse than hair balls.
There is one in every crowd. 😛
Yes, I think grass vomit is no less disgusting than hairballs!
I have a catnip plant in a barrel, and cut the gang some fresh nip.
I’d like to do that myself. I have some big pots that’d work fine, though I’ve noticed there are more cats wandering around the neighborhood lately, after years of very few.
Gosh I need to grow some more myself!
No excuse! Kitties go to bed crying for grass. LOL!
Planted! 🙂
No more tears!
George gets veggies and fruit in his canned food, and seems to thrive on it.
Odd, isn’t it? The one thing I’ve noticed about pet nutrition is this: not unlike human nutrition, everyone has his theory of what is fitting, and no one agrees with anyone else! My boy’s veterinarian advises against feeding them beef because it isn’t a natural food for them. On the other hand, the brand of cat food I feed them (a highly-rated premium brand, of course!) features one flavor called “beef-trout”. Hunh??
I do know you can’t feed them a straight vegetarian diet without causing them significant health issues (including blindness). Another thought: if cats originated in the interior of Africa, how’d they catch their tuna, a treat every cat I’ve ever know loves, loves, loves, though I don’t feed it to mine because of the mercury issue.
I had a comment today about grass, too. The woman said her veterinarian said cats eat it only if they have worms and you shouldn’t deliberately give it to them. Of course, the Internet has lots of conflicting information on that, too, though petMD website characterizes it as a good thing.
You really have studied it out. Generally, I try to keep George on chicken . He likes it best. I buy it from Amazon. And sometimes the chicken is ridiculously expensive so he gets the beef and chicken mix. I have to work with his issues with UTI. And he is very vocal when he doesn’t get his chicken.
My boys prefer chickem, too, though they will eat pretty much what I give them. (That’s why I stick with the high quality cat food because they’d eat junk cat food if I let them! I want them around, healthy, for a long time!)
“It is easy to grow, so I try to keep a bit on hand for the boys. Unfortunately, it grows fast, dies out fast, and requires frequent replanting to assure a regular supply, ” … and I thought it was my brown thumb …
Follow the instructions on the seed package, and you are assured a success! (Well, theoretically!)
Oh, they do grow – for a few days – then, despite me watering them cautiously, they turn all brown.
The grass doesn’t last long. I don’t know if it would grow for a longer period or not if you trimmed it like a regular lawn or not. My cats never eat enough of it to get that result. If anyone reading this has more thoughts on the subject, I’d be interested in reading them, too! You think it is something you do or don’t do right (“brown thumb”) and I think it’s just a short-lived grass that quickly goes through its growing phase. Maybe we both are wrong!
Or maybe we are both right – I do something wrong AND the grass is not designed to last forever.
😉 It suddenly seems very complicated! LOL!
Hmmmmm -I’m going to have to con – I mean purrsuade the human too get some growing fur me!
Threaten to eat a prized houseplant if your human doesn’t plant you grass right now! If you don’t get your grass, casually walk by the potted prize houseplant and knock it off the shelf!
MWAHAHAHA! What a brilliant idea!!😹
Let me know if it gets you some grass action!
Working on that now!!😼
Good kitty! You deserve nothing but the best!
Why thank you human!😺
Once your human has fed you grass by the stem by hand she will never forget – that is sooo sweet when one of my two sniffs appreciatively, then the other comes along to try to get a second …
That’s the way the late Louie liked to get grass, though he’d eat it oin his own, too. Andy likes to nibble it off the plant. Dougy seems to be uncertain about its culinary attributes, but likes to play with it!
Hmmmmm – being hand fed fresh grass – I like it- HEY HUMAN! I HAVE A JOB FUR YOU! 😹
Reminds me of the pug doggy I babysat several years ago. Ladybelle was the pet of two girls who fed her one spoonful at a time. You’d have to dig out a spoonful of dog food from the can, push it off the spoon into your hand, and hand feed her that way. Needless to say, it was a long process!
On the other hand, the neighbors on the other side had a cat named Mr. Buff (I think it was) I also babysat one time. He’d eat his food, no problem, but he was so stressed out that his family wasn’t there, that he’d immediately vomit it back up. I was happy when that family returned home, too!
I oh my FLEAS! Those two were a handful!
Yes, so if someone asks you to babysit their pet while they are gone, make sure you find out these little details before committing instead of after the people leave town and you are stuck with a very spoiled pug or an upset cat that misses his humans!
Very sound advice, indeed.
🙂 One tries to do what’s best for the furbuddies!
I grow wheatgrass and barley grass for myself to make a green drink… the cats get the second growth so they have at least half a dozen pots going at the same time… we all need our greens!
Good idea!
Hmm, I might do that for Minx when I get back to Australia. Do you ever grow catnip for the lads?
Yes, I always try to have some catnip growing in the window! Andy is especially appreciative of it, and Dougy’s reaction is less enthusiastic, though the commercial dried ‘nip is OK with him. I think the home-grown stuff is just more potent.
Thanks for the grass reminder. I grow some for my cats, but I keep it in the diningroom or they would eat it all at once.
My boys are moderate users, though they do like to play with it! Here’s a video from a couple years back. That was grass I dug out of the edge of the yard. I’d hoped maybe it’d last all year, but that wasn’t to be.
http://youtu.be/vfyIFNSuOEI