If you've had cats that go outside, you have probably noticed that they will graze on grass from time to time, some more than others, and some don't seem to do that at all. Ella will eat grass once in a while but it's an obsession with Bubba. When I was letting them out, the first they would both do is roll in the gravel, and the second thing that Bubba would do would be to look for some long grass to graze on. Both of these activities are instinctual, although they have more reasons to roll in the dirt than to eat grass. According to Science Magazine, cats eat grass in order to increases the muscle activity in the digestive tract in order to help them expel intestinal parasites. Although our feline pets don't tend to have these parasites anymore, the instinctual behavior remains. According to the article, the scientists did not test another common assumption, which is that they eat grass in order to help them throw up hairballs, so that may also be true. Bubba is obsessive about eating grass. Other than running from one end of the lawn to the other, eating grass seemed to be the main reason he wanted to go outside. Now that he has been an inside cat, whenever I carry him out he will reach up and eat leaves, with a preference for lilac and cherry. Rather than turning him into a leaf eater, I am now growing some cat grass indoors and cutting some for him to eat when it gets long enough. That will last only as long as it takes him to figure out where I am growing it, I am afraid. As for rolling in the dirt, there are a lot of reasons why your cat might want to do that, but one of them may also be an instinctual behavior designed to rid themselves of parasites on their fur, silica being a major component in sand.
yes...grow some to be ready for winter.... our little dog...peaches eats sunflower leafs... the older dog.........who's now passed away ate grass too... she lived to be 17 years old... and they do spit it up later... oh..well...I'd best stop there
We had a cat that loved nothing more than to jump into the wet bathtub as soon as the water was gone and roll all over it, leaving me a bathtub covered with wet cat hair. My daughter's cat would get in with you while you were showering and sit there until he was soaked. There is no understanding cats.....
It has been my understanding that cats and dogs both eat grass to provide fiber to move things along the intestinal tact and facilitate excretion. In nature, carnivores get non-digestible "fiber" from things like hair and skin. Most of that is not available in sufficient quantities in commercial feeds, so carnivores obtain fiber from other sources.