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Comment by stinos | Hacker News Reader

And the Cat is often tempted by a plant which is not good for him.

The science behind the reasons for cats eating grass and other plants is not yet unravelled completely, but I don't think there is a general consensus the eating nor (supposedly consecutive) regurgitating is actually bad for the cat. Just bad for the owner :) Research does show it is very common behavior though (like 1/10 cat owners have never seen their cat eat plants).

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There are toxic plants for cats. I'm not an expert so I won't link to anything here but you can look it up on your favorite search engine.

And yes, they want to eat those plants anyway. And they are often stubborn with this.

Why would you leave the toxic plants in places the cat chew on them, though? Or if you can't keep them out, why have the toxic plants? I mean, I have a mint plant that can irritate them, but between it being inconvenient and the cats having very convenient and safe plants of their own to chew on, it is no issue.

And as a sidenote: It is always best to look up every plant you want to bring around your cat - at least a few, you might consider not having. Easter lilies, for example, have pollen that is toxic to cats. They don't have to eat it for it to kill them.

I'm not arguing with this, though you can end up in a situation where you get a cat after having a plant for a long time, or someone not aware offers you a plant, and depending on your house or apartment, it's often not easy to find a place for your plant that your cat can't reach.

And yes, you should look up your plants for cat toxicity and the solution is often to give your plant to someone else…

That's an interesting point; I think it depends on the situation though. Especially houseplants could pose a risk here, in which case it's probably easier to just not get them, but oustide the situation seems to be different; I have the impression that when there's a decent amount of plants cats don't go for the toxic ones. Purely anecdotal but having lived on the countryside for decades with tens of cats and about 50 species of vegetation which are confirmed toxic to cats I have never seen a problem. Nor have people I know.

I have two cats, and they show good judgment on what plants they nibble on. They only show interests in the grass that I grow for them (in general any kind of grains, e.g. wheat, barley, etc.), and they never touched my other house plants. This is anecdotal, but at least in the case of my two cats, they seemed able to distinguish edible grass from toxic ones with no prior learning.

Yeah, it looks like there is a spider plant in the video, which cats tend to like to chew. Apparently it drugs them a bit and isn't toxic to them.

https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-a...

It's easy enough to provide them their own grass.

https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/pet-greens-...

Most grocery stores have wheat grass that is cheaper and larger than what the pet stores offer. It's worth a look.

they eat grass when they feel sick. sort of a self medication thing.

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