Cat owners: what's the deal with catnip?
 

So I was just doing some online shopping for my kittens at Petco, and came across this article on catnip. Here's a small portion:

So let me get this straight. Catnip contains an herb called nepetalactone, similar to the sedative in valerian, called the "Valium of the nineteenth century." So you're giving your cats an herb to watch them get a high and just kinda entertain both themselves and you.

I hadn't thought about catnip before I got cats (obviously), but my fiancee is opposed to the idea of giving it to them. I understand that the high is temporary and not a big deal, but does anybody else feel weird about giving their cats drugs? The more I think about it, the more I feel uncomfortable with giving animals this substance when there's no real way for me to gauge how they're feeling when they're on it.

Thought number two: Why is catnip legal but marijuana illegal? Is it simply because cats aren't human and can't do productive things like get the munchies or construct bongs? :) Seriously...why is catnip so universally accepted, to the point where I have a very difficult time finding toys without catnip?

Do you give your cats catnip and did you give it any thought before doing so? Am I overreacting?

I have a catnip plant. It is in a wire cage because my cat ripped the shit out of the first one I had. She bounces off the walls when she eats it. She even digs in the snow to access it in the winter.

Now pretend for a second that you're not talking about catnip and your cat but maybe your significant other and cocaine. Suddenly doesn't it sound REALLY sketchy?

My mom has cats, and used to get them catnip toys as well, usually on Christmas. The cats freak out for an hour or two, then get really sleepy and uncommunicative. Yeah, sounds like a drug problem to me as well.

Meh. It's a naturally-occurring substance, and it doesn't appear to have any adverse effects, except for periods of frantic running around breaking my shit, followed by lazy dozing. I have no qualms about letting my cats have it - if they lived in the wild and happened upon it, they'd have a little fun shredding the plant, wig out a little, and then wander off. Next time they came across a plant, they'd know "hey, that's fun!" and do it again, but it's not like they'd develop a catnip-seeking obsession. I think likening this to drugs is a little iffy.

I also give my anxious kitty valerian, and it does a good job of calming her down, and stops her licking her belly bare. The alternative is to give her kitty prozac. I'd much rather give her a natural herb that, granted, smells like feet, than give her man-made pharmaceuticals. And she loves the stuff.

it's part of the mint family.. and some cats, one of mine included, seem to also get this craziness from mint as well.

the other cat, doesn't do anything to it... as far as it being like a drug, sure it is.... but then again, what do cats truly contribute to society and how adverse are their destructions to society from it?

Classic! Basically put the whole thread in perspective :D

True, so let's take it the other way....how adverse are destructions to society as a result of marijuana? So why is marijuana illegal but catnip is fine? Don't you see? This whole thread is just another tactic to get marijuana legalized! You fell in to my little trap!

(cough) :rolleyes:

Seriously, I'm probably just thinking too much about it.

It's not illegal for cats to smoke marijuana either, I don't see where the arguement is...

lol... someone has to ask it...
do people have any effects from eating that plant?

If the person reacts to it (most do), it can greatly help to relax you, although sometimes to the extent where you can lose your focus. I drink catnip tea at night to help with my insomnia, as it is one of the few things that isnt an illegal substance in my NCAA sport. I do NOT take it to enhance my performance, however.

I know someone who smoked catnip because they whought it would get them high. didnt really work. I give my cat catnip all the time. i dont find anything wrong with it...its just like smoking up but for cats.

Weed for cats. Mine don't get it b/c they are wild enough already!

My neighbour's cat goes INSANE when he gets the stuff. Once my mother gave me some to give to him and i thought he was going to have a heart attack. He launched himself at the sock (containing the catnip) and locked on with his claws and mouth. I could lift him right off the ground.

I decided that he had enought and took it away from him and he went nuts clawing at the cupboard door where i stashed it. I ended up throwing him out, but when my ex came home, he charged in right up to the cupboard.

He's one cat who can't handle his catnip.

Yep.
Our cats like catnip and we like giving it to them.
We like to watch what they do.
Some things are just plain simple. I like that too.

Catnip plants grew outside my house. My dog never gave a crap about them, but once I recognised the smell and tore a few up to dry up and grind to give to my cat.
If it is in powder form it gets all spread out on the floor and she rolls around in it, stopping to sniff it or eat it for a while, then goes back doing a little kitty break dance in it.
Eventually she gets sick of it and goes back to normal pretty much immediatly. Shes normally calm and is rather calm when "high".

My cat is the coolest. He acts like a really friendly dog...unless he gets into the 'nip. Then he acts like an aloof, psycho asshole. I don't like it. In other words, my cat doesn't get catnip, because it makes him act like a cat.

I'm thinking about branching out into the neighborhood. The first taste is free, then the cats will bring me their owner's belongings to get more.

My cat's have never had it. I really can't see the point in giving it to them either.

i saw a thing on the discovery channel about catnip, and they had like a bunch of cats all chewing on what seemed to be a huge catnip plant or multiple small catnip plants. one was lying on his back all messed up and foaming at the mouth kinda. he looked like he was enjoying himself tho.

I've gotta say that any comparison between a human doing drugs and a cat on catnip is quite a reach. Cats are not human, so the whole thing falls apart right there.

My cat, Ben, loves catnip. For about five minutes anyway. He sniffs it, runs around acting crazy for five minutes, then he just loses interest.

Then he tries to bite me.

Little fucker.

We have mint plants around my house. Occasionally my i'll give some to my cat when i'm in a bad mood. For about 20 minutes or so he'll try to get the dining room chair to have sex with him, then he'll get tired of waiting then just rape the thing. Really funny, but kinda scary....makes me wonder what he does to my leg when i'm sleeping.....

for some reason I was digging for old posts and found this thread....

there was a Snoop episode on MTV where he was working in a pet store and was smoking catnip... weird.

lol... this makes me want to buy some catnip for my sisters cats next time I go home.

Hey, cats are worthy members of society! Just because you humans can build bridges, perform blood transfusions and release poison gas on the Tokyo subway doesn't make you better than us. You should be happy that we Cats still tolerate your impudence and pettiness and your wanton extravagances at the expense of all other inhabitants of our planet! The patience of Ubercat, Overlord and Master of the Universe is wearing precariously thin. He's beginning to regret ever having gone through with this "Let's make a talking monkey and see how far it will get on its own" experiment our scientists were so excited about. It's just that we've trained you to take such good care of us that we're somewhat unwilling to let you guys go....yet.

But I digress...

To get back to topic:

I for one don't care for catnip. Those silly purple and green fluffy mice and hairy balls with the catnip inside you make for us? What were you thinking? They're for juveniles! I let those lie untouched around the house and gather dust, in defiance and contempt of Roboshark's poor judgment in buying them for me. Me, I get my kicks from meditating on the window sill and surreptitiously controlling the minds of all the passersby...when I'm awake...

Yours truly,

Robocat

(roboshark's cat)

We have bought seeds so we can plant some in the backyard - if I remember I will let you all know the results when our two cats get the scent.

We have 3 cats. Two of them could care less about catnip, but the third one goes crazy over it. We once had a little plant in a 1x1x1 plastic pot. I set it down, went to the bathroom and when I came back the plant was out of the pot and my cat had made a huge mess of the living room (in the span of 1 minute). He also goes crazy over any toy with catnip in it.

Cats on nip is funny. SP had an episode where the neighborhood cats had a nip party in Cartman's house. Good stuff.

My cats act the same way about catnip as they do about Camels and Pot.

Is this a conincidence?

My girlfriends older cat will take a few sniffs and scratch her post a little more roughly then sleep for five hours her younger cat will eat, roll and kick at the nip for about 15 minutes then suddenly snap out it and go back to acting like her usual self. The few male cats we have had seem to have much much more of a reaction then the females.

there are 4 cats in our family and there are plants in front of the house.

they generally leave the growing plants alone...but three of them love to just sit in a box that contains some dried catnip.

I've never seen a cat actually get crazy or hyper from exposure to the stuff

ours just like the smell I guess :)

I have two 6 month old cats and I haven't given them catnip, but I've been toying with the idea. I mean, if it makes them happy, why not? It's a treat. As long as they don't start foaming at the mouth and stuff...It's a naturally occurring plant, my boyfriend used to live in a house with a garden with a catnip plant in it and his cat used to lie sleeping on it all day. I say it's ok, there are worse things in the world.

I have a couple cats that sort of like catnip. My wife decided to suprise me the first time she gave a cat catnip. I came home and the cat was intently licking the carpet and would not move from the spot. I asked my wife if she knew why the cat was being weird and she told me she had sprinkled catnip on the carpet.

Neither cat does much with the catnip except eat it, try to claw the capnip bag out of my hand and bite me if I try to take the catnip away. Maybe the catnip wasn't fresh enough.

Years ago my wife had a cat and a five pound bag of catnip. When she came home one day she found that the cat had discovered the catnip, and ripped into the bag. So there was catnip everywhere and one loco cat zooming around the house.

lol people drugging their cats..lol..*shakes head* you crazy kids...

now have anything i can give my dog?

I like to give my cats catnip. Out of the 4 of them, only one of them really gets off on it. She would eat through a wall to get to it. She is also somewhat possessive, so don't put your hand near her catnip if you want to keep it.

Being a reformed* pot head, I don't see anything wrong with a little recreational drug use for cats. It's not like it's a gateway drug that is going to lead them to kitty coke or some thing. Next thing you know they are sneaking out at night and breaking into the vets for the horse tranquilizers. :crazy:

..yea..seriously tho..what can i give my dog.

Our cats love "Cat crack" as well, But I agree with an above poster that my cats are crazy enough without that stuff.

I don't think there is anything legal that you can give your dog that would give them the same kind of reaction as cats and catnip.

You are really thinking into it too much if you have moral issues with catnip. You aren't going to set the cat up with any long term addictions or side effects, or see her mewling outside trying to turn a little tail to the local tomcat for a fresh dose. Its more like giving soda to a kid, they bounce off the walls for a little bit then go back to what they were doing.

lol i'm sorry..that made my day :)

oh and i've found that my doggies go crazy on sage..thats right..garden sage for cooking...i left a bag from teh store with a bunch of it in there on the floor by mistake..and lucy ( my puppy) got into it and ate a few pieces...she was running in circles, walking on 2 feet and yipping for a good 4 hours :)