Sophie is off taking a nap, so I thought I’d take the time to post. The question being, what’s up with cats and grass?

We recently were at the store and decided to buy one of those containers designed to grow grass that your indoor cat will enjoy nibbling on. Since we chucked most of the plants that she was continuously destroying, we thought that maybe a replacement of some sort was in order.

You know, I did a little reading on this - okay, I goggled “why do cats eat grass”. I think I’ve concluded that no one is 100% sure and they are all guessing. Some say it’s to get essential nutrients, while others say that is completely not true - it is to help with digestion and regurgitate things they do not want to go through their system.

I have my own theory. It’s too piss you off as the cat owner. When grass goes down, it must come up - and it brings up with it other things as well and is nicely deposited on special places on the carpet. I’m sorry, but I swear they do things on purpose. Sophie always manages to bee-line it for the carpet when she decides to get rid of dinner 1 minute after she’s eaten it. We might as well just go dump the can on the carpet.

I actually have a picture of what was deposited on the carpet shortly after we took the picture of her eating the grass. I have decided it really is just too gross to post. I do have my limits.

I will have to say though - she doesn’t always throw it up and she does seem to really enjoy it. The downside is, it doesn’t last long. It starts to die, no matter what we tried.

I did find this though - how cute is this? And it has refills you can get….

SmartCat Kitty’s Garden Just add water to the organic seeds and peat moss soil, and in 4 to 6 days your cat has a garden of nutritious oat, rye, barley, and wheat grass. Grazing on these organic grasses provides vitamins and aids in digestion and hairball control.

Spring is in the air….leaves are budding, birds are singing, and I’m stuck inside. An indoor cat.

It is said that there are many benefits to keeping us kitties inside:

We live longer - on average 15 years and many live longer than that.

We tend to be healthier - not bringing in with us all those other critters on our fur or diseases from other animals.

We don’t end up as a foxes snack (at least around here I hear that is a possibility).

We don’t annoy the neighbors by using their gardens as a litter box.

Oh, but how I long for the great outdoors. Just to give you an idea of the view I have from the back screen door each day…………

No, it’s not a blurry picture. That’s what I really see looking out through a screen door. I can smell all the smells, hear all the sounds, see all the things there are to see, I just can’t get to them!

Last summer Jodi did have the brilliant idea of getting me a harness and leash and taking me out into the backyard. She seemed quite frustrated that i just plopped down and wouldn’t move. What is the fun of investigating with her on my tail? It was humiliating. She tried it twice and then I never saw it again thank goodness.

I did manage to get out one time and one time only. It was not long after being brought here and they were painting the inside of the house and someone, we won’t name names but he’s really tall, left the back door open. I made a break for it and was gone for most of the evening. Yes, I could hear them calling my name - I’m a cat - like I was really going to go rushing back like a dumb dog.

I did finally get tired and wanted my own bed but not until I brought back a little “gift” for the family. Jodi was so happy to see me that she scooped me up without even looking to take me up to Dylan’s bed, where she promptly set me down. They were puzzled why I went flying back downstairs.

It wasn’t until they followed me down and realized what I had in my mouth the whole time….a nice, half alive mouse. Not bad for only being out such a short time! Still don’t understand what the big deal was…..

Why in the world mom even tries growing plants in this house is beyond me. Why does she have plants, that to me, seem obvious should be for my enjoyment - but then yells at me every time I indulge?

And frankly, I’ve done such a number on them I not sure why she keeps them around…..

I’m not allowed outside. So these crappy plants are the next best thing. Well, today I got caught in the act of trimming the plants. I really don’t understand what the big deal is - I mean come on - look at that plant. She might as well just let me have my fun with it and save herself all the aggravation of shooing me away from it whenever she sees me munching down.

She yells things like, “Knock it off! You’re just going to throw it up later!”.

Well, yeah, that is the point, isn’t it?

Rumor has it she used to have a house full of plants years ago when they lived in Texas and had quite the green thumb.

Now that they have moved to Colorado, her green thumb seems have turned brown. I do believe watering the plants might help. I don’t see her doing it much, but I’m just a cat. What do I know? In the meantime, I have made myself the designated plant trimmer…..

There are many things about cats that people will never understand. One being the amazing ability I have to reproduce my dinner 10 minutes after eating it, in almost the exact form it had coming out of the can. My genius regarding placement on the carpet cannot be matched - until recently. I came upon a worthy opponent.

I don’t know the full details of how it happened since I was up on my safe spot - the armoire in mom and dad’s room. There were little children in the house which is always my queue to get as high as I can.

All I do know is that towards the end of the evening, the big carpet cleaning vacuum came out - the one normally reserved for things I have done. Curious, I finally made my way downstairs once the house was quiet.

The vacuum cleaner was still out - and the stain was still there. Nice and red. Wow. Turns out one of the little people spilled a glass of wine. A stain so powerful, the carpet cleaner could not get it out. I was impressed.

Over the next couple of days, they continued to try to get the stain out to no avail. Finally, mom came home with what seemed to be magic in a bottle. One spray of the stuff and that stain disappeared!

This got my wheels turning….first off - I could not let a 2 year old out stain me!!! Second, curiosity got the best of me. I wondered if I could produce a stain so powerful that the magic in the bottle could not get it out.

I waited a day after the red stain was gone. Vacuums nicely put away, carpets clean and back to normal. Then let it rip. I was able to pull off a stain like no other. The best part was placement - right next to where the red stain was. That little tidbit, I would like to say, did not go unnoticed by the other members of the household. The word “ironic” kept popping up - whatever that means.

Well, hats off to the cleaner. It seemed to get my stain out as well, although, I’m proud to say, I can still see a faint, faint outline. I’m sure you are dying to know what cleaner is so powerful it was able to get the stain out…..come on! I’m a cat. How am I supposed to know?

I would like to address the issue of Nepeta cataria, or catnip, as you people like to call it, and it’s use to manipulate cats in households all over this country. As as cat, I think it’s over used and misunderstood.

I was first introduced to catnip when I brought into this home. Before that, I never knew what it was. They seemed to think the involuntary reaction I had to this substance was “cute”. Free entertainment at my expense, since I had no control over myself when it was given to me.

They kept getting more and more products that contained the dried leaves - cardboard scratcher (not as entertaining as the couch), catnip filled mice, then they resorted to just buying it by the container and sprinkling it on things. They could never understand why the whole enjoyment of it seemed so short lived - why I wouldn’t play with those mice for hours on end, just because they were filled with catnip.

I decided to do a little research regarding the “drug” and discovered some interesting facts:

1. Not all cats are sensitive to the chemical, nepetalactone, that is the triggering component in catnip. Kind of like not all humans are sensitive to the asparagus phenomenon. (You’re on your own with that one….). The behavior is inherited. So no, there is nothing wrong with Fluffy if she doesn’t like catnip.

2. The reaction only lasts a couple of minutes. So stop buying more and more toys thinking that the catnip has “gone bad”! Our brains have to “reset” before we will react to it again. By that time we’ve gone on to something else more important. Sleeping for example. I know it’s not as entertaining for you, but much more enjoyable for us.

3. Many wild cats respond to catnip too. Now seeing a big lion in the bush going at it with catnip might be entertaining. Take some with you on that next safari to Africa and see what happens.

4. Little kittens and old cats, tend respond little, if at all, to catnip. So again - save your money.

There you have it. Some basic facts about catnip. Cats are not catnip junkies. We know how to stop. I wish I could just contain myself when it’s first given to me. So humiliating and rather undignified behavior from a normally dignified feline!