Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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.
Chapter 2: 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?
Chapter 3: 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.
Chapter 4: 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. They might have eaten some
scavenged food that's covered in disgusting maggots or they could have eaten an animal that itself was sick in a way that wouldn't be immediately obvious um in the same way that for a human if you eat untreated meat and it has parasites in it you consume that meat you're going to end up with parasites happens to me on the daily right it's a daily threat um and for humans you know we have these medicines uh if you have your domestic cat hopefully has uh
you know, preventative treatments to stop this kind of infection. But as a wild animal, there's not very much you can do about having bugs in your tummy. Except that we do know that eating grass has a habit of stimulating the muscles in your digestive tract. So they're going to crunch around a bit. And the theory goes that in doing that,
you're going to kind of dislodge these parasites and it will assist them in leaving the body in the way that things usually do. So it may have been a sort of really clever sort of self-medicating behavior for when our cats were wild animals. Interesting. Yeah. And as for like, well, why do they still do it then if they haven't got parasites now? Well, it's just not how evolution works.
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Chapter 5: Should pet owners be concerned about grass eating?
We shouldn't intervene? Yeah, I mean, I think that I guess the key thing would be that grass is fine, but you need to know it's not treated, right? That's an important caveat. And obviously when it comes to things like plants, there's a long list of things that cats and dogs can and can't eat and it differs for both of them. So that's always important to keep track of.
But yeah, if you're just in the park and so far as you know, it's not been treated, it's going to be fine. Zooming out, there's got to be a lesson here that this behavior teach us about our pet's inner lives. Like in many ways, they're still driven by ancient instincts, not the modern lifestyle that the pampered pet has in your house today. Well, I think that's such a good point, right?
Because, you know, we sit at home with these cuddly, adorable things. And I feel like stuff like this really drives home the message that domestication is such a powerful tool. I mean, how amazing is it that we've gone from these wild canids and these wild felines that, you know, would have
slit your throat at the chance back in the day and now we've groomed them into these incredible companion animals that give us so much joy um but there's just these little hints these little like reminders um that they were once different no matter how fluffy no matter how cute no matter what food you've named them after you know they've got those little hints of the wild still left in them are there any other ancient instincts that pop up in our household pets that do you want to mention uh well you know i noticed a cool one with my cat ralph he's a bemilla a bemilla
Yeah, they're fun. You should look them up. Very fluffy, faded fur. But when he's turned a certain age, I noticed how if he got a fright, he gets this little crest up on his back. And I looked into it, and it seems that certain cat breeds have more of a kind of like sagittal crest on their skulls. So it gives them this very cool sort of funky mohawk.
on the odd occasion that he tries to look brave, which isn't very often, I must say. For my brother's dog, he gets mad at the mail carrier. Perhaps there were some ancient mail carriers 100,000 years ago. No, I'm kidding. But like perhaps back then, like guarding the pack, that instinct, you know? Absolutely. I mean, it's all about looking after the group. So, you know, we should be grateful.
And perhaps their treat can just be having a little chew on some grass sometimes. Well, Rachel, thanks so much for coming on the show and discussing this article you recently wrote. I appreciate your time. Thank you. Great to meet you. Rachel Funnel is a science writer at IFLScience. Check out the article, Why Do Cats and Dogs Eat Grass? The world is changing.
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