# Grass getting stuck. Please help!



## leuty (May 10, 2010)

I have two cats. In the last week both of them have eaten grass and then got it stuck. One cat had theirs easily removed from her throat, but my little boy was more complicated and the current bill stands at £650. 

Tonight my girl has again eaten grass and is showing signs it is stuck. I don't know what to do (of course I will take her back to the vet) but I cannot afford to keep taking them when it gets stuck. We keep our lawn cut short but it is the neighbours garden with the long grass. 

Why are they eating it? Is there any way to lower their desire to eat it? Or lower the chance of it getting stuck? 

Any help appreciated


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## cinderflower (Apr 22, 2012)

cats just eat grass. i'd say to get some kitty grass and grow it for them, but I doubt if that will keep them from munching on the neighbor's. I think if I had a vet bill that high, i'd find a way to keep them out of it, period.

I guess you could try a little plain Vaseline mixed with some meat baby food and see if that helps. just don't do it at meal time, try to do it in the middle because it hampers nutrient absorption. once or twice won't hurt, but it's not really a good long-term solution. the only thing I know of is to make sure they can't get at grass, but that probably means keeping them indoors. maybe you should try that until they're a little older?

you could also probably put a little olive oil in their food. they absorb that too though so you don't want to use too much because it racks up calories pretty fast.

don't try to squirt oil in their mouths because they tend to aspirate it and can get pneumonia from that. they'll just eat the Vaseline happily if it's in baby food.


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## cat face (Apr 4, 2013)

The best thing you can do is to grow your own grass for them to eat.
And I would suggest getting a little catnip seed along with the grass seed (wheat grass seems to be a fav with most cats).
The catnip will be a huge attractor to get them to pay attention to your grass.

Whats the problem when the grass gets stuck? Did the vet give any reasons? Did they give any suggestions?

I know that ornamental grass can cause problems (the light greenish long, long stuff. We had some and my cat would get seriously ill and vomit violently but even that didn't get stuck. Naturally we removed that grass. 

The kittens this past spring went out and over to the neighbors. I had stupidly thought they would get grass on their travels, so no need to grow any.  One of them ate some kind of grass/green stuff that obviously didn't agree, she threw up a few times and wouldn't eat for most of the day. 
I started growing grass in little pots and have it setting in the garden, near the kitchen window. It seemed to do the trick. I notice all of my cats eat the grass I planted. They seem to like to eat it right before they eat their meals. I haven't had any issues of anyone being ill and not eating.

I haven't planted catnip in with my grass but I think next spring when I start the outside grass plant again, I'm going to add some. They LOVE the nip lol 
I will grow grass indoors for them during the autumn and winter months, like I did last winter.


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## leuty (May 10, 2010)

Thank you for your responses. 

The vet said there are certain varieties of grass that are slightly barbed, this causes it to become stuck when the cat is sick. I'm just very unfortunate that its happened to one of my cats, let alone both.

I'm tempted to just keep them both in, is that cruel? The youngest has been going out 4-5 months. The eldest was indoor only for most of her life and now only uses the garden for short periods of time. Vet bills are crippling me financially .


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## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

Catface, Great Idea to mix some catnip in with the Wheat Grass!!
I'm going to try that out with my indoor bunch!


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## cinderflower (Apr 22, 2012)

leuty, I don't think it's cruel to keep cats inside, especially when it's for their own good. I know you're in the UK and most people there have indoor/outdoor cats, but I couldn't even if most people here did because I live downtown in an urban area. my experience with plants is limited to the window box I planted about fifteen years ago. I had to keep it inside until there was no (or little) chance of frost, which is late May. I had two cats and neither seemed interested. I came home from work one day and the youngest one had eaten them all off at dirt level lol. it didn't make her sick, I just wouldn't have any flowers. I think most of them were petunias. (it didn't hurt her but I wouldn't recommend it.)

so try growing the cat grass and/or catnip. you could still let them go outside if you can supervise but I also know that cats pretty much do what they want, whether you're looking or not.


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