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<19 May 1999 16:56:28   From: Moonpadler [HOL] Grass Questions>
 
OK it's stupid question time ~

Emily writes:
<<I take him   outside on his leash for fresh grass nibbling.>>

& I remember Liam's "eating grass till he pukes" <G>.

I don't get this.   Django could care less about grass, but Zachary acts like  there's a drug he's in withdrawal from nearby if I bring a blade of grass in with a garden bouquet!   He will leap & jump & grab & meow until I go pick him some grass so he can inhale it like a starving alley cat.....& then he pukes.     What am I missing?   What's the benefit here?  I brought some wheat grass in once but since Zach just ate it til he puked I thought it wasn't a good idea.   I take it I was wrong?   Opinions please?   Is there "good grass" & "bad grass"?   & what about the tall grass with those nasty sharp edged seeds?

Calling all grass experts.......

Jillian

Jillian, my cat tends to eat quite a bit of grass when he is outside with the same results!  D**s also do this, mine does it moreso when we're outside working in the garden and she's just hanging out relaxing.  Here'ssome material from Levy's herb book that basically says what we already know, but confirms the idea that we shouldn't stop them from eating it: "Cats should be encouraged to eat any green herb, particularly couch grass (also known as twitch, crab grass, dog grass), that common weed and a basic internal cleanser for the carnivores, used as a laxative or to induce cleansing vomiting."  In another section of the book "this grass is so important for maintaining health in dogs and cats that, if not available as a wild plant, roots should be procured and planted where dogs and cats can utilize them."  A friend of mine does exactly that - she has a pot of grass she grows in the house for her cats to nibble on and says she rarely if ever sees a hairball and actually her cats don't barf much either.  A couple times my d** has literally mowed down some grass (eating a great deal in a short time) and it was because she had an irritating piece of a Nylabone in her tummy I think.

We need to trust our animal's natural instincts and try to cope with the results :)  There's usually a reason why they're doing some of the things they do.  My kitty when I was growing up spent a great deal of time outdoors and even though she was a long haired cat, rarely had a hairball or other health problems - I think it was all those mice, grasshoppers and grass that she munched down on a daily basis.  <LOL>

<<I don't get this.   Django could care less about grass, but Zachary acts like there's a drug he's in withdrawal from nearby if I bring a blade of grass in with a garden bouquet>>

When Motley and Mariah go outside, they eat grass, come in the house, and throw up.  Regularly.  Taz, on the other hand, is outside more than the others, but he rarely eats grass (at least not that I see), and he doesn't throw up, either.  When I put a pot of wheat grass down for them to nibble, none of them touch it...although they love it chopped up and sprinkled over their food.  Go figure....
<G>

Diane, Motley and Taz (and grand-kitty Mariah, too!)

Jillian,

Welllll...I'm not a grass expert, but I can tell you that here in FL, there is very little "good" grass.  :D  In fact, it doesn't smell good when it's mowed like it did in NC, where I grew up.  However, recently we planted about  a 3' wide path of wheat grass around some walking stones we have, cuz this is where Liam likes to "graze".

He usually throws up the regular grass in the yard, but he doesn't throw up wheat grass.  My feeling is that they'll eat grass to throw up if they have hairballs or the like.  I've always read and been taught that cats eat grass to purge their tummies.  I think this is true, in part, but they also eat it for the benefit (i.e. chlorophyll, minerals, etc.).

I also believe that if one cat loves grass, but the other doesn't, like our Fiona, then their bodies are telling them that's what they need.  Just my thought on this.

Apparently, Fiona and Django must not "need" the grass, while Liam & Zachary are grass junkies!  :D  Ahhhh, to be a cat!

Judi & the MacFolds (one of whom was promised he could graze on the new grass this evening)

To any of you interested in growing wheatgrass for your kitties,
 
I grow wheatgrass in big flats for juicing and chopping in Tribble's food.  You want to get the hard red winter wheat berries for
that.  I just put about a half inch of soil in the flat, cover with a full layer of seeds, another half inch of soil, and water well.  Keep
warm, and when they sprout move to sunny location.  You have to water often.  You can slice off the grass as needed about an inch or two from the soil and it will regrow, so you get two harvests from each flat.  I do a smaller pot for kitty grazing, too. You can experiment with some other seeds such as rye and barley, which Tribble likes better than the wheatgrass for munching.  Of course, outdoors is great too, but we want it for juicing for ourselves, too, so we want to know
where it's been!

Happy grazing,

Laurie and Tribble

<<full layer of seeds, another half inch of soil, and water well.  Keep  warm, and when they sprout move to sunny location.  You have to water>>

Laurie, I'd like to grow some wheat grass and cat grass for the kits.  Do you know approx. what temp is ideal for either type of grass?  It's supposed to be summer here but we're expecting snow this weekend!  And it's around 55 - 60 degrees in my house all yr round (it's my idea of purrfect temps). Is that too cool for wheatgrass?  I've tried and neither catnip nor catgrass will grown in here:(

<< Laurie, I'd like to grow some wheat grass and cat grass for the kits.  Do  you know approx. what temp is ideal for either type of grass?  >>

Hi Sandy,
 
No, sorry, I don't.  Anyone?  I grow mine in a sunroom so it gets nice and warm.  Maybe if you started it on a heating pad (you could insulate to get it just warm) and then moved it to a sunny spot it would be fine even in your cool house.  Grasses don't seem to have any problem growing outdoors all winter here in the SF BAy area where it's usually 50's and 60's.  I think it would need plenty of sun, though.  Keeping the seeds warm while they germinate is probably the trick.

BTW, how did the tuna-weaning process go?  Is your baby eating raw yet?  Oh, and while I've got ya, the web site is marvelous!  To everyone that has worked on it and contributed to it - THANK YOU!  Now I can send my friends and family there to learn some great stuff for their kitties. It's wonderful.

Purrs to all "our" HOL kitties out there,

Laurie and Tribble

We keep our house cool also. I soak the wheat berries in water for 24 hours before planting (that starts the process)
then plant and put in near a window or even under the sky light in the kitchen. Works fine.

Sandy,

I've been sprouting & growing wheatgrass all year.  I know it's FL, but it does get chilly sometimes during Winter.  I do all this inside or on the screen porch.

I soak & drain, and then sprout the berries in a sprouting jar, then when they've sprouted the root and just begun to sprout the blade of grass, I sprinkle them over soil in a pot or whathaveyou, just as Laurie does, then add a little on top.  I don't really water cuz they've been soaked & sprouted, but I do lightly mist it.  I have 3-4 inch high grass within 4-5 days this way.

BTW, that little "path" of wheatgrass around our stepping stones is about 5" high now, and Liam & Fiona have been enjoying sitting in the middle of it all.  :)))  Liam, of course, has grazed a few spots already.  :D

Judi & the grass-loving MacFolds

<< What will wheatgrass do for my IBD cat, if anything?  >>

Judy,

It will just give your cat some nutrients it may be losing or perhaps never had. It doesn't address the IBD in particular.

Emily

Judi,

Our Liam had IBD for about a year and a half, until I switched him over to raw.  He's always munched wheatgrass and still does.  Somehow they seem to know what they need.  :)  Fiona doesn't "do" grass, in fact, she's not even interested.  I do add it to their food, but for Liam it's not enough.  I have to believe he craves it cuz his body needs it.

It's very good for all of us!

Judi & the MacFolds

Really this is just to thank the list for all the good information.  After one of those discussions on wheat grass, I started buying it at the health food store for Bill, Maggie, and A.J.  They love it, of course!  So I ordered seed kits from Utah Wheatgrass... 435-427- 3245...or www.utahwheatgrass.com.  We have sampled our first harvest today...just so cool to watch these guys roll in it and eat it.  Since they are all three on constitutional homeopathic remedies, no catnip.  So it feels good to have this treat to give them daily.

I am still struggling with the raw food...and basically went back to the beginning with dry food, putting all the good supplements in it to just get them used to supplement taste.We are now up to one teaspoon of raw food mixture in the dry.  I give them Flint River dry so it's at least the good stuff.

Thanks to all!    Robbie

Hi to the list,

I have been growing wheat grass (in a container) for my boy.  But since some on the list said their cats liked barley
grass better just tried to grow barley.

I soaked the berries like I do the wheat, planted it and only four or five sprigs came up.

So my question is how do you grow barley in a container?

Gloria

Something else my kitty kids love to chew on is popcorn grass! My 3 year old daughter grew me some in a mothers day basket<G> and they of course discovered it!

So I planted a couple of trays of it for them and they just adore it! It is very easy to grow - just buy the stuff from the store that you normally make pan popcorn from (not microwave - buy you knew that right?LOL) and plant it in a shallow tray.  It sprouts and grows to four inches in a week and they love it - no vomiting with it either!

Tracey

Sharon,

yes, I planted the popcorn kernels from the grocery store (the kind you cook in a pan) and watered them - within a week I had about 4 inch high "grass" that the kitties adored!

Try it and see!

Tracey

Sharon and Tracey,

As the granddaughter of an Ohio farmer, let me explain.  Corn is a species of grass.  So are most of our grains.  I think amaranth isn't, but barley, oats, corn, rye, wheat, millet, they're all grasses.  Rye grass and oat grass commonly grow in our lawns as a weed species.

Sometimes I think I ought to just plant oats, rye, barley, etc.  It seems to grow better than the fescue that is so popular here.

Debbie

Hi all

<<Also, does anyone know of a nice *perennial* grass that cats would relish as much as oats?>>

Juliette de Bairacli Levy in her book _The Complete Herbal Handbook for the D*g and Cat_ (a great book, BTW, altho more for d*gs than cats) says that plain old crabgrass, aka couch grass, is the grass of choice for cat grazing. Now, you just have to explain to your neighbours why you're planting it. <G>

Jean, the Sasket & Amber Pudgepot

<<We  mean besides catnip and oat grass.  Also, does anyone know of a nice  *perennial* grass that cats would relish as much as oats?  Thanks!
Charlie, Fraidy, Lionel, Cufflynx, Granola, Oats, Sju, Woodie & Lucky>>

HI

One perennial grass that will take over is "Couchgrass" (Agropyron repens), or Quackgrass as it is also called in some areas......our d*&gs and cat love it.  The rootlets are very medicinal as well for FUS and cystitis....but they love to chew on the top greens.

You *have* to grow some Echinacea.....purpurea (Purple Coneflower) is easy to grow from seed. It will be ready to harvest in 2-3 years, and the WHOLE plant is medicinal, not just the roots. If you make your own medicine out of it, this also helps the wild stands, since they are almost extinct.

There are so many herbs that grow so easily, it's difficult to decide which ones...........
--
Mary Wulff-Tilford, DiHom;Professional Herbalist,AHG

<<Also, does anyone know of a nice *perennial* grass that cats would relish as much as oats?>>

All my cats adore the lemongrass I grow indoors. Visiting cats run right over to it, as well, so it must be great stuff. I grew it for Thai cooking, but my cats have claimed it as their own. I believe it's a tender perennial.

Marin
Maia, Suki, Cheyenne, Terra, Juniper, Samantha