My friend Shelly is crazy about her cats, Sophie, Sammy and Stella. Despite the fact that she claims she doesn’t have a green thumb, Shelly regularly grows cat grass. She told me “They are indoor cats and can’t eat regular grass, so I grow the indoor grass for them. It’s better for their digestion, and they love it!”
Many cats LOVE cat grass and they also LOVE catnip. Both are plant products and make your cats happy but they are very different plants with different benefits for your pets. Cat grass is a combination of various grasses, often rye, oat, and/or barley. It promotes cat health with antioxidants, chlorophyll, vitamins, minerals and fiber to support digestion. Catnip is a plant related to the mint family with small gray-green leaves and whitish colored flowers. It releases an aroma when you crush the leaves that some people say smells like mint and some think it is less pleasant with a skunk like odor. Catnip contains nepetalactone which causes a “hallucinogenic effect” that mellows out the animals for short periods of time.
Between the two, cat grass is much easier to grow inside (and less smelly!). You can buy the seeds in a kit with a planting pot and growing soil, with or just the seeds once you already have a growing container. Sow cat grass seeds directly into your soil about a quarter-inch deep and slightly cover the seeds with soil. Water the seeds a small amount, and leave the pot in a sunny place in your house. Within a few days the grass shoots will begin to emerge. Water the plants a small amount every other day. By day 5-7 the grass should be 4-6 inches high and strong enough for the cats to eat without killing off the plants. The grass will grow back after the noshing and the plants will live 1-2 weeks.
Treat your cats to some cat grass and they will love you for it. It is instinctual for cats to eat grass. This is a simple way for you to show your cats how much you care about them!