You may have noticed that your dog or cat tends to munch on grass from time to time. This may seem like an unusual choice for a snack, especially for cats, which are carnivores. So why do our pets eat grass?
"There's quite a few theories," said Dr. Jamie Lovejoy, a veterinarian at Stack Veterinary Hospital in Syracuse, New York. "We do see grass-eating behavior in both dogs and cats, and these are two species that technically really don't have the equipment to digest a lot of grass." For instance, grass-eating species tend to have special gut bacteria that helps break down grasses' tough cellulose, and many herbivores have multiple stomach chambers and a longer digestive tract to break down plant material.
