Why does your cat eat grass – and when does it get dangerous?

Cat owners can confirm it: When the cat is outdoors or has a pot of cat grass available in the apartment, it likes to nibble on the fresh green. But why do cats even eat the grass – and is that a bad sign?

Not all cats eat grass
Whether a cat likes to eat grass or not seems to depend on its character and preferences – not every velvet paw is happy about a pot of cat grass in the apartment. Other specimens, however, love the lush green and really devour it.

Because the house tigers sometimes choke up the green blades of grass again afterwards, many people suspect that cats only eat the grass to get rid of unpleasant things in their stomachs. Eating grass is therefore often associated with a feared disease in cats.

A study considers this unlikely and now finds a different reason.

Study: Cats’ behavior is innate
In a study at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, a team of researchers led by Benjamin L. Hart found that the velvet paws’ love of grass probably does not mean an illness or malaise – rather, the behavior is innate and rooted in the ancestors of cats.

The wild conspecifics would have eaten grass in order to rid their stomachs of parasites by choking – they were wild animals that were constantly infested with parasites.

However, our domestic cats today usually no longer have this problem and grazing would therefore not be necessary. The behavior therefore seems to be simply innate.

If your cat suddenly eats more grass than usual, a visit to the vet is advisable to be on the safe side – he can tell you whether there is a disease behind it.