Rachael Funnell: Why Pets Eat Grass - January 9, 2026
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neutral zone, where every perspective gets diplomatic immunity. This is The Last Show with David Cooper.
Why do your pets eat well but can't stop grazing near lawn? What is the science behind your cat and your dog eating grass like an all-you-can-eat salad bar? Is it instinct? Is it digestion? Is it pleasure? Is it just vibes? Well, we're going to discuss that with Rachel Funnell, a science writer at IFL Science. Rachel, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. Pleased to be here. At the break, you were telling me you had a kitty. Does your cat eat the grass? Because when mine eats things like that, he does it. He's so excited. And then he froze up. Well, yeah, it's actually the inspiration for this article was that I was dog sitting for my parents. So they've got a lovely golden retriever called Holly.
And I brought my cat Ralph along. And I was sort of reading my book. And I looked up and I was like, what is going on? They're both just sort of doing these loops, chewing on the ground like two cows. And I just thought it seemed pretty strange, you know, two famously carnivorous animals. You buy them all this fancy pet food and then they're just mad for grass. But yeah, Ralph definitely loves him a bit of the salad.
Why do pets eat grass?
Don't get me started on the expensive pet food. Okay, so when I see my cat or my dog, and there may be different reasons for each species, but when I see them eating grass, most owners usually panic. Should we chill about this? Like, is it okay if our pets go for things that might make them throw up?
What is the science behind pets eating grass?
Yeah, I mean, it's interesting that you mentioned that thing about the throwing up because we could touch on this later, but there's sort of conflicting evidence about whether or not it has an effect on their guts. But the take home is that, no, you don't need to panic. With grass especially, it's very common, it seems. There's a couple of reasons we have to sort of explain why it might be happening. As you say, like it could just come down to vibe sometimes. I know that like my parents dog will eat literally anything.
Is eating grass instinctual for pets?
My cat, his only goal in life is to eat crunchy, crispy plastic pieces like tape off of a package and then immediately throw up. That's his great joy to eat plastic and then get sick. This is it, right? You know, we're looking for clever reasons to understand the behavior of our fluffy little idiots. But there is some there is some fun science to explore with it. Okay, so let's dive into it. You mentioned that maybe I have a misunderstanding that animals eat grass and then get sick or do sick. I feel like in British English, you say that a little different. Yeah, we go for throw up, I feel. Throw up, okay, puke, I'm being gross at this point. Why is that story popular and why is it maybe not the full truth?
Yeah, so like definitely a lot of people will say, oh, my cat or dog, they go out and they eat this grass, so they're feeling sick and then they eat and it helps them vomit. So far as we can tell, the study into cats that looked into it, it was about 1,000 pet owners, and 70% or so said that their cats were eating grass, so very common behavior. But of those people that said, yes, my cat eats grass, about 90% said it had nothing to do with them being sick or feeling sick. I know anecdotally for me, when my cat Ralph eats grass, I've yet to see him be sick afterwards. But I do remember with my old family cats, they definitely sometimes would eat and be sick. So it's certainly a thing that does happen.
However, the research into it shows that it's not as widespread as the behaviour is itself. suggests that it's probably not a direct, I feel sick, so I'm going to eat, and then this grass is going to help me vomit, right? But there is something else that could be explaining it to do with our digestion. And it all comes down to the fact that there was a time when cats weren't called things like Ralph, and I know you said your cat's called Tomato. Tomato, yes, of course. There was a time when they were wild animals, and they would have been out roaming around.
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