In article , Andy p.panter@
REMOVESPAMTRAP.ntl.com writes

Let me see if I've got this right: Cats eat grass in order to be
sick. Some people grow grass for their cat to eat. Inside the
house. Which means that their cat will be sick /inside/ the house.
Probably where they can't find it for months. NOOOOOOO!

Cats are always sick where you will find it immediately (preferably
barefoot) before it has had time to dry out.

Cat vomit, btw, does not smell anywhere near as bad as child vomit, and
if you are going to step in something unpleasant and wet, it's probably
preferably to mice entrails.
--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/garden/

On Thu, 06 Feb 2003 21:08:17 +0000, Kay Easton wrote:

Cats chew grass - I don't think it's really clear why, may be something
If they don't have grass available, then they will often turn to
houseplants instead.
So it's suggested that indoor cats should have a tray of grass
available.

Now that I can confirm, both my cats chew grass on occassion - and one of
them chews the spider plants in the house if he can.... I don't mind this
particuarly. What annoyed me was the same cat eating the tops off my
sweetcorn plants last year as they were growing in the conservatory!

Mind you - perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised, this same cat loves
corn on the cob!! He goes absolutley mad for it, and will quite happily
strip a corn cob totally by rolling it around on the floor till he's got
all the bits off.

Sarah (owner of a slightly bonkers cat)

On 7 Feb 2003 04:38:42 -0800,
(Warwick Michael Dumas) wrote:

Niniane seems to like Homebase Shady Lawn. Never seen Merlin eating
grass. What they like is for the grass to grow about 1ft long - the
length is probably more important than the kind of grass.

My cats seem to have a preference for grasses with scratchy edges
to the blades. Couch grass is a big favorite! The blue grass,
Agropyron (or Elymus) magellanicum is another they go for with
gusto.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

"Warwick Michael Dumas" wrote in message
om...
....
Yes, I can confirm from a position of considerable experience in this
area, cats DO NOT EAT cat grass (Avena Sativa), for which I once paid
about 3 quid for about a seed tray's worth. Catnip, on the other hand,
I intend to investigate.

Catnip seems to be very much a matter of personal taste. I have a large
patch of it and responses vary from an initial sniff around, followed by
ignoring it, to getting totally spaced out on the stuff.

Niniane seems to like Homebase Shady Lawn. Never seen Merlin eating
grass. What they like is for the grass to grow about 1ft long - the
length is probably more important than the kind of grass.

That matches my observations too.

Colin Bignell

in article , Rhiannon Macfie Miller at
wrote on 7/2/03 11:36 am:

It was a dark and stormy night, and as the people of uk.rec.gardening
huddled around the fire, Druss told them this story:

When I was younger, we had a cat which had taught itself to do this,
apparently one day my mother walked in to the downstairs loo only to find
the cat perched on the edge of the bowl doing it's business, and of course
we all had a real good laugh and checked the gin bottle. However a few weeks
later my brother had exactly the same experience, so naturally we assumed
his pocket money had got up strangely, just as corroborating evidence was
necessary, finally a couple of months after that I myself caught the cat at
it !!! amazing things cats.

Ah, but did it flush?

Rhiannon

With embarrassment? ;-)
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk

On Fri, 7 Feb 2003 08:14:00 -0000, "Druss" wrote:

When I was younger, we had a cat which had taught itself to do this,
apparently one day my mother walked in to the downstairs loo only to find
the cat perched on the edge of the bowl doing it's business, and of course
we all had a real good laugh and checked the gin bottle. However a few weeks
later my brother had exactly the same experience, so naturally we assumed
his pocket money had got up strangely, just as corroborating evidence was
necessary, finally a couple of months after that I myself caught the cat at
it !!! amazing things cats.

You may be interested in this site which shows how to toilet train your
cat (I haven't dared show it to my two!)...
http://www.karawynn.net/mishacat/toilet.shtml.

--
Cheers, Serena

Where nothing is sure, everything is possible (Margaret Drabble)

On Fri, 07 Feb 2003 21:15:11 +0000, "Sarah Dale"
wrote:

Mind you - perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised, this same cat loves
corn on the cob!! He goes absolutley mad for it, and will quite happily
strip a corn cob totally by rolling it around on the floor till he's got
all the bits off.

I had a cat once who was mad about canteloupe. Eat a slice at
breakfast, put the rind out on the sundeck for him, and he'd
spend an hour or so chewing away at it. If I left my breakfast
slice unattended on the table, it *was* at risk.

One of my current Gang of Four is very partial to anything
tomato-y, but that's fairly common among cats.

Still, your corn lover gets a blue ribbon in the Unusual Feline
Appetite competition.

--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

One of my current Gang of Four is very partial to anything
tomato-y, but that's fairly common among cats.

Still, your corn lover gets a blue ribbon in the Unusual Feline
Appetite competition.

--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Er, I have a video of one of my cats devouring an avacado pear. Does that
count as unusual?

Howard Neil

On Sat, 08 Feb 2003 21:44:13 +0000, Howard Neil wrote:

One of my current Gang of Four is very partial to anything
tomato-y, but that's fairly common among cats.

Still, your corn lover gets a blue ribbon in the Unusual Feline
Appetite competition.

--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Er, I have a video of one of my cats devouring an avacado pear. Does that
count as unusual?

Howard Neil


I'd say a cat eating avacado pear was unusual! Still, I didn't know about
cats liking tomatoes - may be I'll try that on mine and see what they
think! My other cat loves milk but thats not unusual in a cat. We only
found this out after catching him with his head down in a glass of milk...

Sarah

On Sat, 8 Feb 2003 21:44:13 -0000, "Howard Neil"
h.neil@whichREMOVE TO REPLY.net wrote:

One of my current Gang of Four is very partial to anything
tomato-y, but that's fairly common among cats.

Still, your corn lover gets a blue ribbon in the Unusual Feline
Appetite competition.

Er, I have a video of one of my cats devouring an avacado pear. Does that
count as unusual?

No. Your cat gets an honorable mention at best. That some cats
are fond of avocado is Well-Known.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

No. Your cat gets an honorable mention at best. That some cats
are fond of avocado is Well-Known.

One of my cats eats anything. Melon, avocado, banana, peppers, pasta (cooked
and uncooked), rice, potatoes, peanuts, pecan nuts, sweetcorn, cucumber,
apple, mango, spider plants, lemon grass, sweet pea plants, etc. His
favourite is freshly cooked bread. He really dislikes coffee for some
reason.... he tries to 'bury' any cup of coffee he comes across.

Best,

- h

"H" wrote in message ...
No. Your cat gets an honorable mention at best. That some cats
are fond of avocado is Well-Known.

One of my cats eats anything. Melon, avocado, banana, peppers, pasta (cooked
and uncooked), rice, potatoes, peanuts, pecan nuts, sweetcorn, cucumber,
apple, mango, spider plants, lemon grass, sweet pea plants, etc. His
favourite is freshly cooked bread. He really dislikes coffee for some
reason.... he tries to 'bury' any cup of coffee he comes across.

For some reason I felt slightly worried when I read this. My
understanding is that because cats are meat-eaters, and generally not
fruit-eaters, their digestive systems are meant to deal with a
relatively high pH - nothing as acid as juicy fruits. Also cats often
develop kidney problems on the diet we give them, so you really don't
want to be letting them eat anything too salty or dry. Salted peanuts
or dried pasta would not be suitable.

The only instance of the 'burying' behaviour I've ever known is with
my present cats - if cats have once been starved, they always try to
bury food to keep it for later. Niniane used to make such an effort at
digging a hole in the kitchen wall it actually acquired a slight dip!


Warwick Dumas

New website ... http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/warwickdumas

For some reason I felt slightly worried when I read this.

Don't worry ... whilst he eats these things, it is not his real food. He
gets fed on tuna chunks and teknical (sp?) dried cat food. Having the odd
tiny morsel of cucumber etc won't hurt him at all.

However, on the salt thing, I understand some people actually put salt in
their cat food as it encourages the cats to drink fluids. I don't. My cats
are more than happy drinking out of the puddles outside, and if they really
can't find any disgusting water, they'll bring themselves down to the level
of drinking the fresh filtered spring water I provide in bowls each day. ;-{

Best,

- h