Vegetables

Vegetables are not often desired or essential to supplement. Feline bodies are not able to properly digest vegetation and so it may be a little confusing to see a cat chewing away at some fresh grass time to time. In fact, the action of eating grass itself doesn’t seem like a particularly interesting and enjoyable pastime for cats and they will simply vomit what they have ingested after a short time.

So why do cats choose to eat something they will simply throw back up? Cats consciously choose to eat this for health purposes. While a great amount of nutritional value can be taken from meats, fish and the like, none of these food sources contain nutrients that can only be found in vegetation/grass.

Haemoglobin levels are important to maintain within the body to transport oxygen within blood cells. Folic acid found within grass (juice) helps with the production of haemoglobin and helps to keep cats energetic and active, a deficiency can lead to weakness and severe illness. In addition to this, grass serves as a natural laxative that allows cats to be rid of pesky hairballs through excretion. The same can be achieved through the throwing up process as grass acts an emetic as well, inducing some hurling action from the cat.

Cats love to eat grass because it makes them feel better, perhaps not while eating it but certainly after. If one sees a cat gnawing away at some grass expect to clean something up shortly after. Cat owners shouldn’t worry too much about supplementing vegetables into their meal plans as most commercial or home prepped food will provide the much needed proteins and fibre.