Even though cats are carnivores. Sooner or later every cat wants to eat some grass. Both wild and domestic cats graze on grass. They may like the taste or the crunch but they end up regurgitating the grass because they lack the digestive enzymes to break down fiber in vegetation. Regurgitation is good because it helps to eliminate hairballs and any other indigestible matter the cat may have eaten including the bones from fish, mice and birds.
The greens supposedly added to cat food to meet a cat's desire for grass are merely a marketing ploy since heat processing destroys the greens beneficial enzymes and anti-oxidants. Many greens added to cat food are there as low cost filler (extender).
Indoor and outdoor cats should be provided with a personal pot of grass to prevent them from nibbling on toxic houseplants or weeds sprayed with herbicides.
Technically cat grass is the particular grass, Dactylis glomerata L. also called orchard grass and cocksfoot. But, the pots of cat grass sold at pet stores are usually wheat grass.
Any cereal grain – oat, rye, barely, wheat – will grow grass. Cat guardians should experiment: some cats prefer the grass from one grain over the other.
Getting Started
The Seed: Never buy the seed from a garden center. The grass seed from the garden center is often treated with chemicals (poisons). Instead buy the seed from the bulk food section of the grocery store or health store. It should cost less than a dollar a pound. You will need ¼ cup of seed to plant every 4 inch square pot. Consider one pot of grass per cat, per week.
The Pot: Select a clean study pot with drainage holes. The flimsy disposable pots that annuals are sold in will do if they are put into a heavier container to keep them upright when the cat starts nibbling on grass. When re-using pots, scrub them first and disinfect them in the sun.
The Soil: Avoid using soil from the garden because it is too heavy, does not drain well and because it is not sterilized the seeds would likely germinate than “damp-off” at the base. Instead make a potting mix of one-part sterilized potting soil (with no added fertilizer) to one-part composted steer manure.
Light: Like any plant the grass needs light to grow but because it is germinating and growing only for a short time (usually no longer than two weeks) it can grow without direct sunlight if no windowsill is available.
Planting
- Fill the pot to ¼ inch from the rim with the soil
- Saturate the soil with water
- In a single layer spread the seeds touching each other across the soil
- Cover the seeds with the soil mix and sprinkle with water
At 65-70 degrees the grass should take 7 to 9 days to reach 6 inches and be ready for kitty to nibble. At 10 inches tall the lanky grass bends over and becomes less attractive to cats. While the grass can be cut back (like cutting the lawn) to a couple of inches from the soil the edges of each blade where it was cut will have a dry brown scab and the regrowth will be tough.
While cats lack the enzymes to break down fibrous vegetable matter they may be able to extract some nutrients from young tender grass because it is less fibrous. The grass a cat is more likely to regurgitate is the tough re-growth.
Plant a new pot every 7 to 9 days and compost the old cat grass.
(An easy compost system for those who do not have a garden and just need a system to handle cat grass is to get three clean five-gallon buckets with lids from bakeries or restaurants (everything from pickles to cookie dough comes in them). Drill holes all over the lids. Water the overgrown pot of cat grass then remove the grass from the pot and break up the root ball. Toss the grass and dirt in one bucket. Keep doing this with every pot of overgrown cat grass until that bucket is half full. Then, do the same for the second bucket. When the second bucket is half-full, start breaking up the root balls and putting the overgrown cat grass into the third bucket. By this time the first bucket should be composted. And, while this is not a sterile potting mix in many cases it works fine to use to start growing the next pots of cat grass. This system saves money, making a self-contained cat grass operation.
