Why do cats eat grass? Cats are carnivore animals which mean they do need meat for their survival. Their systems are so designed so that they use large amounts of proteins. Their systems are not properly designed to process vegetarian food, so they don’t need a salad in their chicken dinner.
However, many a time you might have seen cats munching on blades of grass. This often puts one question in your mind, that being a carnivore, why are they eating grass? Well to answer such a weird question, there are no scientifically based answers, but we have tried our best to figure it out and provide you the right information.
Below are some of the likely explanations that we used to explain to you that what does it means when cats eat grass.
- Cat might eat grass for their digestive needs: Cats can pretty much have the same reason to accumulate grass as human beings have greens in their own diet. Although the experts believe that cat’s system does not need grass for their digestive system but reports from Animal planet do say that cats may seek for soft grass blades in order to settle down their stomach, the same way as human’s take an antacid tablet to calm their stomach.
If in case your cat has overeaten or got blocked up, her intention will be to take out everything from inside by seeking out for fibers that are found in vegetarian. The same way you might have also seen your cat chewing toilet paper. Well, the need for fiber can be the reason for your cat’s such behavior.
To aid digestion and for the growth of cells, cats require folic acid (vitamin B9). Kitten gets this essential vitamin from their mother’s milk. But if they don’t get enough of it, then according to animal planet, it can cause anemia in cats. As folic acid is present in the grass, then it is believed that cats consume grass in order to fulfill its deficiency. However, there is no proof for such behavior of the cats.
- Cats can eat grass because it’s fun: We already know that cats are predators in nature. Therefore, attacking and munching the blades of grass may remind them of catching their prey likes birds or rodent. Your young cat can practice catching her prey by attacking these small blades of grass and your older cat can just enjoy by doing so, as they love to pretend and show themselves as bad hunters.
- Cats can eat grass to merely gain attention from people: Cats quickly learns about the fact that what kind of behavior would draw the attention of people towards them. Many people have a habit of reacting to their cats while they are eating grass in different ways. Some people may find it cute while their cats are eating grass or some people may get conscious about the health of their cats. Therefore, a cat might eat grass just to draw your attention towards her.
- Cat might eat grass to relieve anxiety: You might have heard about the term “stress eating” or “emotional eating”. Well, this stress eating can cause your kitten to eat not just to satisfy her hunger but to satisfy her oral fixation or to relieve anxiety. As said by Vetstreet “Cats you usually eat grass can also show up the sign of their displacement behavior. If you see you are little furry usually chewing up grass or other plants at your home, then you must have a check on her to help her out for her anxiety issues.
- A cat might eat grass to control Cat Hairballs : When a cat grooms itself, then hairballs are developed. Cat’s tongue has got tiny, hook-like structures which act as brushes and catches the loose hair as it grooms. Most of the hairs are likely to pass through the Cat’s system, but some of them remain in the stomach and forms hairballs. This irritates the cats, so they are always finding ways to get rid of them. By consuming grass, cat vomiting? reflexes get activated and the hairballs formed easily come out of their system.
Now after a brief discussion about why a cat can eat grass, there arises another important question that is it okay for a cat to eat grass? Well, we have also got an answer to this question of yours.
Eating a small amount of grass is probably not going to cause any harm to your little furry cat as it is going to vomit out that eaten grass. But if your cat is more likely to stay outdoors and eat a lot of grass then you might have to get concerned about the pesticides and fertilizers that go inside your kitten with the grass it intakes.
Make sure that whatever plants your kitten is consuming is non-toxic. Otherwise, if your cat consumes plants that are toxic, then it can be proved hazardous to its health. Then your little kitten needs medical care right away. Some of these toxic plants that your kitten has can even lead her to death. So, you must always watch what types of grass if your little one eating.
According to independent Ireland reports, it has been said that sometimes grass can get stuck in the back of the nose, inside the nasal chamber which makes your kitten sneeze a lot. Well if this condition occurs in your cat, then you need to physically get out that grass.
The best and the safest option to prevent all of this is to keep your cat away from the grass. Keep your cat inside the house most of the times and remove all the toxic plants from your home.
Another way, you can keep your cat away from toxic plants is that make a personalized garden for her. House cats may have an urge/need to eat grass, and there is commercial cat grass available in pet stores which you grow in a tray indoors for Kitty to eat.
It’s definitely worth trying this if your cat has a particular taste for houseplants – he may be eating these because there’s no grass available. Providing grass for him may give your houseplants a much-needed respite. Plant wheat-berry seeds in your garden and let your cat enjoy it. By doing this you cat can absolutely feel safe as well as she can play around in her own personalized garden. Read more: DOWN SYNDROME IN CATS
