Pup Tip | Grow Your Own Greens

Moderate consumption of grassy greens can be quite beneficial for our furry friends. Greens (such as wheat grass) are fiber rich and contain folic acid and B vitamins and are a great natural supplement to your pet's commercial diet. Both dogs and cats may benefit from eating grass when they're experiencing stomach upset. This is going to sound gross, but if they consume enough grass it'll make them vomit and help clear out their system. Cats get an added benefit in that grass can help prevent the build-up of hairballs. 

I generally wouldn't recommend letting your pets eat lawn grass if you can help it. Lawn grass may have been exposed to pesticides and harbor parasites. Pre-grown pet grass sold at pet supply stores are preferable as they're grown in controlled environments and contain nutrient rich grass (such as wheat grass) as opposed to your run of the mill Kentucky bluegrass. But at $4-6 a pop pre-grown pet grass isn't cheap so here's a fun and cost effective alternative: grow your own greens! 

What you need:

1 planter (4-6 inches deep)

Soil specifically formulated for edibles

Grass  seed (Again, you want to plant nutrient rich grasses. Cosmic Catnip has a great grass mix containing barley, oat, and wheat. I paid $4.99 for 5 oz. and even after planting 3 pot fulls I still have about half the seed left. You can also readily find wheat seed at your local health food store)

Directions:

1. Fill the planter with potting soil about an inch from the top. Lightly moisten the soil. Evenly distribute a handful of seed. Cover the seeds with a 1/4 inch of soil. Lightly moisten soil again.

2. Lay a couple of sheets of paper on top of the planter. I like to just fold up some newspaper. Place the planter in a dark place. Check on it periodically to make sure the soil is lightly moist.

3. As soon as you see seeds sprouting place the planter in a sunny spot. Give it about a week and the grass should be tall enough for your pets to eat. Yum!

Tips: 

You can let your cats have open access to the grass but if they start vomiting it may mean they're eating too much and you'll want to place the planter out of reach and feed them by hand.

You'll need to water the grass approximately every other day. You want the soil moist but not too wet.

You may need to trim your grass periodically to keep it in good shape.