Cat ≠ owl... Right?

[leechi]

I'm hoping people who feed raw bone in meat can help me clear this up. I've seen some articles about why cats eat grass which state that a reason they do is to help them eliminate indigestible things such as fur, feathers, and bones from their stomach. But I thought cats digested bone?

One article even says "From a cat's point of view a dead mouse is a fiddly thing, and it is impossible for the cat to separate fur and bones from the meat. Therefore the cat gulps down the entire mouse. Once the meat has been digested the hair and bones remain in the cat's stomach. Eating grass makes the cat vomit, and this brings the grass back up, now neatly wrapped around undigested mouse parts. This is probably safer for the cat than passing spiky little bones through its intestines, which might get punctured or blocked".


Someone I know also seemed to think that cats vomit up bones. Is there any truth to this?

 

[solomonar]

Why cats eat grass? The scientific answer is: nobody knows.

I am serious.

Some state the explanation you quoted - but this is just a supposition, it is not demonstrated.

In my opinion, the only hypothesis I think it may worth exploring is the presence of folic acid in grass, folic acid which is also present in the milk of the mother-cat.

The unanimous opinion seems to be however that cats shall be allowed to eat grass if they want so. 

As far as I know, dogs can digest bones, providing they are not cooked. It might be very well the case of cats. So I see no reason to vomit bones. If they do, they lost Calcium, which they need.

 

[leechi]

Thanks for the response. I am still hoping that someone who feeds their cats bones will weigh in.

 

[Willowy]

I have never seen bones in cat vomit. You're right---they aren't owls! Well, OK. . .a cat we had when I was a teen used to eat too much rabbit and then yak it up on the deck (ewwww) so I suppose there probably were some bones in that mess, but I've never seen a bone-and-fur vomit like owls make. They digest small bones.

 

[leechi]

That's what I thought, thanks!

 

[sophie1]

There's no shortage of misinformation and tall tales on the Internet.  We don't know why cats eat grass, but because cats are universally driven to eat fresh greenery I can only assume it serves an important function.  So I consider live grass to be an important part of their diet.  I keep a couple of pots of cat grass growing in my apartment, and my cats munch it daily.  They don't throw it up, and that's probably because the grass is always available to them.     I was hoping they'd leave my other plants alone if I kept them supplied with grass, but unfortunately not - they especially love spider plants!

BTW - yes, cats digest bone, and fur/feathers are well integrated into their little stools.  Grass on the other hand comes out looking exactly like it did on the way in.

 

[albercheck]

My 5 month kitten, who just got through teething,
sometimes had partially digested bone bits in the occasional hairball. I figure he was swallowing the pieces whole because he didn't want to chew them with sore teeth. Interestingly it's usually the gristly end bits, so maybe that part takes longer to digest...? Anyway, I suppose that if there was too much undigested bone, along with fur etc, then eating grass would relieve that problem.