Cat Is Obsessed With Eating Grass

[Sarah12]

Hi all,

I have an indoor cat who practically lives for the brief occasion in which I let her outside to explore. She stays right around my deck and is only interested in eating grass. She doesn't pay attention to much else I started letting her go outside so she could experience new things, but that grass eating became a problem because she always throws up once I let her back inside.

Anyway, should I be concerned about her preocupacion with grass? Is she seeking out some nutrient she's missing in her diet? Eating it because she needs to throw up?

She was recently ill some an infection. Possibly a UTI. She's recovered but now her eating habits are changed. She'll only eat off the floor.

 

[maggiedemi]

My cats have eaten grass in the past when they needed to bring up a hairball.

 

[orange&white]

She might be looking for a missing nutrient, or it could be to pass hairballs. Are there any pesticides or chemical fertilizers used on the grass? I'd order some hard winter wheat berries and grow her a little pot of organic wheatgrass indoors.

 

[Sarah12]

She has thrown up a hair ball recently so I think she may be eating grass more for the nutrients, then.

I thought about getting her some indoor grass but having to clean up throw up constantly makes that too difficult. Would she ever stop throwing up from grass?

 

[orange&white]

Maybe, maybe not. She may vomit "yard grass", but be all right with wheat grass.

 

[danteshuman]

I would grow her some grass of her own.

 

[irenechennia]

Cats sometimes nibble on a few blades of grass in your yard and almost immediately afterward you’ve probably seen her throw that grass right back up. It might seem odd that kitty would enjoy eating something that obviously makes her sick, but there are a few theories that seem to indicate grass nibbling actually serves a valuable function.
Cats may eat grass as a way of ridding their digestive tract of something unpleasant or inedible. Grass nibbling may be of particular importance to outdoor cats who eat prey in order to get rid of any inedible parts that get swallowed (feathers, bones, etc.). It can also be a way for a cat to get rid of some hair that gets swallowed during grooming which may cut down on hair balls.

 

[irenechennia]

Exactly.

My cats have eaten grass in the past when they needed to bring up a hairball.