Ever since I was a kid, if I saw one of my cats eating grass, I knew what would come afterward. And if I were lucky, it would be somewhere outdoors, so I didn’t have to clean it up. As any cat owner knows, cats eat grass to settle their stomach and induce vomiting. Right? Well, a recent study out of the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine begs to differ.
Just recently, the results of this study on cats’ reasons for eating grass were presented in Bergen, Norway at the annual meeting of the International Society for Applied Ethology.
For the study, 1021 cat owners were surveyed, with researchers spending at least 3 hours per day observing and mingling with the participating cats to uncover the real reason why cats eat grass.
(Cats that were indoor-only without access to plants and outdoor cats whose owners could not observe their behavior were excluded from the study.)
During their time spent with researchers, it was seen that eating grass was a prevalent behavior among all of the cats observed. So much so that only 11% of the cats in the study refused to eat the grass offered. However, of the cats who nibbled on the grass, it was determined that only a quarter of those who chewed the grass vomited afterward. Of those cats in the study who did nibble on the grass provided to them, 91% showed no apparent signs of being sick before they chewed the grass.
According to SmithsonianMag.com, only 11% of young cats under 3 years of age were regular hoarders, despite 39% of them eating plants every day, compared to 27% of cats 4 years or older.
While we certainly know that cats are masters of hiding their pain, the results of this study clearly tell us that cats simply eat grass because they enjoy it. So, it seems that cats eat grass because they can and that they may enjoy the taste and texture of it.
The study’s final result was that “vomiting is merely an occasional byproduct of eating grass—not the objective.”
So, essentially cats eat grass because, to them, it’s appealing!
The study on why cats eat grass was conducted to test a theory developed after observing chimps and other wild animals that munch on grass to expel intestinal parasites. But thankfully, our feline friends are domesticated and no longer plagued with parasites as they once were. (However, this research did not investigate the connection between cats eating grass to expel hairballs.)
So what does this mean for us cat lovers? According to researchers, we should offer our cats some cat-friendly grass to chew on from time to time. Additionally, our cats do not throw up out of spite or purposefully. At least, we don’t think they are!
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