Growing pet treats
I recently came across an organic seed mix for cat grass that includes oats, barley, rye and wheat. I had never really thought to feed my cats any kind of plant as they usually left our houseplants alone and I assumed that they get enough fibre from their dry and wet food. However, I am a doting cat owner and, since I like to container garden, I was sold on this cat grass seed mix immediately.
Upon further reading, there are mixed reviews as to whether or not it is necessary to make edible grasses available to your cat. One side says that it can help with kitty’s digestion and supplement her diet with fresh greens. Some even claim that cats crave grasses, though it may just be dependent on the individual likes and dislikes of your kitty. On the other hand, some argue that cats are carnivores and have no need for additional fibre in their diets.
Still others take a more moderate view and note that edible cereal grasses like oats, barley, rye, wheat and flax may not be particularly harmful or beneficial, but if it prevents your cats from eating potentially toxic houseplants or outside grass that may have been treated or fertilized with synthetic substances, then why not?
However, please do not confuse this with catnip, which is like a psychedelic drug for your kitties.
This is a picture of my cat grass planter; seeds were planted 5 days ago. I used small 2″ clay pots and filled the bottom of the planter with small gravel to catch and disperse excess water evenly. The planter is quite heavy, as my cats are quite clumsy and rambunctious, and a lighter-weight planter could easily be knocked off the window sill. The plastic dome is a recycled 7-layer dip container from the grocery store.
If you want to start growing cat grass for your kitties, here are some tips:
1) Fill a pot with growing medium (as for everything else, I use Sea Soil), tamp it down and lightly water it.
2) Sprinkle seeds to almost cover the soil.
3) Cover with approximately 1/4″ of soil and water lightly.
4) Place pot in window sill and ensure the soil is consistently moist, but not soggy. It can help to put a plastic bag or cover of some sort over the soil to keep the temperature up and soil moist until the seeds germinate.
5) Plant another pot about 1-2 weeks before you plan to discard the existing batch to ensure you have a constant supply.
For further investigation of your own, here are some sites to get you started:
Is cat grass healthy or harmful for cats? This article seems like a balanced consideration of pros and cons of making cat grass available to kitty.
How to grow oats for pets inside
Just as an aside, this is one of my favourite cat pictures. It’s from the West Coast Seeds page for catnip seeds. Follow the link for more info on catnip.
