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I have slowly been replacing my live plants with fake plants, thanks to my cats. Well, one of my cats in particular: Lewis. Lewis loves anything green. If he can’t eat it, he wants to shred it. He tries to steal carrot tops and spinach bunches out of the grocery bags. He will spend hours wondering how he can leap to a shelf to get to a tasty-looking bouquet. In order to quell Lewis’s lust for greens, I have often bought him those little planters of cat grass from the pet store. He meows excitedly at them and then . . . completely ignores them while I sadly watch my $10 quickly wither and die.
Fellow Rover tester Kelsey was in a similar predicament. Her cat Bueller often expresses dissatisfaction through violence—plant violence. His anger had been too much for countless succulents, and the recent murder of a beloved palm convinced Kelsey she needed an alternative.
We both thought growing our own cat grass might be the answer: me because it presented a longer-lasting, fresher-tasting alternative to store-bought greens, and Kelsey because it offered an approved outlet for Bueller’s uncontrollable plant rage. But can cat grass kits really work to distract kitties from a human’s green treasures?
What Is Cat Grass Anyway?
Cat grass isn’t a specific type of grass but a mixture of cat-friendly grasses that can include barley, oat, wheat, and rye—and it serves a surprising dietary function. Though cats are obligate carnivores, they aren’t only driven to consume meat. As experts at Hill’s point out, cat grass contains folic acid, which is good for a kitty’s bloodstream in the same way it is for yours. It can also have laxative properties, keeping a cat’s digestive system functioning smoothly and making hairballs easier to surface.
It’s why the plants typically included in cat grass look a lot like the ones in your breakfast cereal—because they’re serving a similar digestive function. (We don’t recommend offering your cat your breakfast cereal, though.)
Lightspruch via iStock
If you’re interested in providing grass to your kitty, it’s important to note that cat grass should be grown inside using organic soil. Regular lawn grass and grasses grown outdoors are frequently exposed to toxins, so growing yours in a controlled environment ensures your kitty is getting only the best. As always.
It’s also important to keep an eye on your cat’s consumption and watch for any significant shifts post–plant ingestion. Most cats can tolerate and benefit from snacking on specific greens—but there’s always a chance that your cat’s stomach will feel otherwise.
How To Grow a Cat Grass Kit
Kelsey and I tested out the Cat Ladies Organic Pet Grass planter kit. It was a pretty simple idea: put dirt in a planter, add seeds, water, watch it grow. But our green thumbs are questionable, so we’ll see . . .
Here we go!
The cat grass kits arrived in small boxes containing a cute little kitty planter, a puck of dried soil, a packet of seeds, and directions. The directions are easy to follow: add a specific amount of warm water to the soil to rehydrate it, put it in the planter, add the seeds, cover with a thin layer of soil, and . . . it’s go time!
Seems simple enough . . .
The directions note to place the planter in a warm, semi-dark area, which was a bit of a challenge for me to find as the temperatures in my city were in the single digits when I began this adventure. They also note one may get faster results by covering the planter with plastic wrap for its first couple of days, so I did this as well.
After two days, I couldn’t see any growth. Revisiting the directions told me that even so, it was time to remove the plastic wrap and place the planter in a sunny location. I don’t really have a sunny location that is not accessible to cats. My solution was to just move the planter along with me to whatever room I was in throughout the day. This was pretty easy, as it’s the size (and shape) of a large coffee cup.
It’s working!!
I was very excited on day three to see some little nibs poking through the soil. By the end of the day, these were already about half an inch long. By day five, the grass was long enough to catch the attention of my cats. In order to ensure it had a chance to grow enough, I moved it to a location they couldn’t reach.
Lewis, caught red-pawed.
By day six, both Kelsey’s cat grass and mine had reached the recommended four to five inches that indicated it was ready for munching. So I put the planter in a spot where all my kitties could reach it, and Kelsey did the same. Then we waited.
So Do Cat Grass Kits Save House Plants?
Over the next few days, all three of my cats made frequent visits to the cat grass planter, including Lewis. At the time of this writing, we are ten days in to the experiment, and the cat grass is still going strong. Though their initial passion has faded, all of them will stop in regularly to check it out. Even when they’re not actively chewing on it, they like to lick it and rub their faces in it.
Success!
Kelsey’s Bueller played coy for a few days and ignored his planter. It finally caught his interest one morning when Kelsey, dealing with her dogs’ shenanigans, was late with his breakfast. Bueller looked for some appropriate greenery to take out his frustrations on and spotted the cat grass kit. He pawed at it, then started nibbling on the grass, which seemed to his liking.
After his initial encounter, when he decided to lash out at the injustices that came his way, he went straight for the cat grass and took his anger out on it instead of Kelsey’s plants.
So missions were accomplished all around: cats were satisfied and house plants were protected.
Bueller tries an experimental swat.
The instructions note that the grass, once mature, will naturally wither in three or four weeks. The good news is you can get refills of soil and seeds for your planter (or even source your own). If you wanted to have fresh grass all of the time, you could get another planter and start a new batch as soon as your current one begins to wilt. Because it’s grown from scratch, I found cat grass from a kit lasts far longer than the fully grown cat grass you can find at a local pet store.
We can confirm green thumbs aren’t required, and this particular cat grass kit from The Cat Ladies was impressive—especially because the cute planter is bottom-heavy enough that it isn’t easily knocked over. (The Cat Ladies also make some beautiful wooden planters if that’s more your style.) We highly recommend this as a project suitable for cat lovers of all ages and gardening skill levels.
