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Letter to the editor

Feline snacks win the cat's meow

Cats cannot thrive on canned meat and dry chunks alone. Grow some tasty greens on the windowsill to satisfy the veggie beast within.

By John A. Starnes Jr., Special to the Times
Published November 17, 2007

Have you ever wondered why some housebound cats gnaw on houseplants, even toxic ones? In the wild, cats ingest vegetable matter by default when they devour plant-eating prey. Denied that long enough, their bodies crave fiber, enzymes and minerals, and the chewing begins. Here are two easy ways to satisfy that craving.

I mix a teaspoon of homeground flaxseed meal into their wet food at every meal. This provides fiber for hairball prevention and omega-3 fatty acids for good general health. Each fall and winter, scatter a handful of whole flaxseed in your garden. It will quickly sprout and grow into graceful annuals topped by lovely sky-blue flowers. You can snip the leaves and blooms into their wet food, or let them ripen and go to seed for homegrown flax. And they look beautiful in any garden or flower pot.

Outdoor cats nibble grass. They prefer a tender, sweet grass to tough Bahia or St. Augustine. Homebound cats, of course, have no access to a lawn. But it is cheap and easy to create a mini lawn they can nibble at will. Just fill a low clay pot three-fourths full with good rich soil, then sprinkle on a couple teaspoons of either winter rye seed, whole wheat berries from the health food store, whole oats from a feed store, or even popcorn. All of these seeds are produced by members of the grass family.

Cover the seeds with an inch of soil, water deeply, then set the pot in a sunny spot out of Miss Kitty's reach. In seven to 10 days the pot will boast a lush carpet of tender, edible shoots your cats will savor daily. Start a new pot each month to ensure a steady supply. It costs pennies, yet gives a wealth of joy and good health.

Cooler weather allows us to grow the ultimate herbal gift for our feline friends: fresh, homegrown catnip. This member of the mint family Nepeta cataria prefers a climate colder than ours, but if it is grown in a hanging basket each winter, it will escape the ravages of summer heat and grazing cats. Two dollars will buy you a whole packet of seeds or one juvenile plant that will fill a hanging basket. The tiny seeds sprout quickly if sprinkled atop good soil and kept damp and grown in a sunny spot the cats can't reach.

Once your catnip plant is about 8 inches tall and wide, you can snip off a short bit of stem, bruise it with your fingers to release the heady minty aroma that drives cats wild, and offer it to your eagerly awaiting feline.

John A. Starnes Jr., born in Key West, is an avid organic gardener and rosarian who studies, collects, cultivates and hybridizes roses for Florida. He can be reached at johnastarnes@msn.com.

[Last modified November 15, 2007, 17:41:43]