The Grass Doctor

What varieties of seed are best for growing cat grass?

I think wheat is most popular, but are there other species of grass that will be okay? I'm disgusted with the price of the 'kits' that are sold as a specialty thing (uuggh -marketing spins..) Some lawn grasses seem a little coarser, or hard & stringy. Would budgie, canary, or wildbird seed be useable to grow sprouts edible to cats? Am hoping also that this question saves other cat-people a few bucks. If wheat truly is the best, where would a city-dweller buy wheat seed? I'm in Toronto, Canada. Thank you in advance!

Public Comments

1. cats eat normal grass, itll be a waste to grow cat grass. i have two cats and i brought some cat grass seeds and it really was a waste, they didnt touch it at all but instead just ate normal lawn grass instead.
2. I bought a packet of cat grass seed for 99 cents at Home Hardware. I've seen them at Canadian Tire and Walmart during planting season for the same price. I grow cat grass in an ice cream bucket on my balcony and one of my cats eats it faster than it can grow.
3. They have a Chia Pet plant that is cat grass and it's really cute. I got mine at Jewel.
4. Cat grass seeds come is packets like the veggie seeds you see in stores. Those "kits" are marketing ploys. A packet of seeds is about $1.50. You can probably get them cheaper on ebay. Cat grass can be oat, wheat or flax sprouts or a mixture of all 3. If you cant find cat grass seeds, ask for oat sprout seeds.
5. I got a bag of cat grass seeds from Canadian Tire for about $1. Then I just used an old tupperware container and filled it up with dirt, planted the seeds and kitty loves it. They only take about two weeks to reach their full height (just don't let the cat nibble on them until you start to see new shoots coming up through the dirt, otherwise they won't get a chance to renew themselves). And every once in a while, you might have to put it somewhere kitty can't get to it, so it'll get a chance to regrow. You can also grow some parsley or basil. My cat seems to like those.
6. Theirs Catnip grass, some cats like this others don't.