![]() The dogs find the cats sniffing and climbing on them somewhat annoying, but the attention is usually tolerable and can be shaken off by the dog stepping away. When we come back from a walk, the cats are always at the door, not to greet me but rather to sniff the dogs. My indoor cats live vicariously through the dogs and their outdoor adventures. Luckily this isn’t a problem, since catmint doesn’t affect dogs, right? Thus the dogs are always sniffing through the plants, looking for the bits of bread.ĭue to its spreading nature, more and more of those plants are Nepeta sp. Our next-door neighbors toss bread into their yards, which squirrels grab and “plant” in our garden. I live in a mixed household and while the cats are indoors all the time, the dogs are free to wander the yard. ![]() It was quickly apparent that this plant spread-by the next year it made some good-sized mounds in the garden. Learning that it was Nepeta sp., I visited a local greenhouse and bought a few plants. I’m a gardener and am especially fond of perennial plants, so when the gardening staff of our fair city started using a lovely, low-growing plant with pretty silver-green leaves and a long-lived blue blossom, I took note. Perennials including the "Walkers Low" variety of Nepeta sp. Apparently some early settler to the New World cared enough about their cat to bring this favorite feline herb along. Nepeta is native to Europe, not the US, but both the wild and cultivated forms grow happily here. Nepeta sp.are a lovely, low spreading perennial in many parts of the world, including here in southern Wisconsin. The cat would need to stay very still for an fMRI scan to be done. Except to say that it would be cool if a cat could be hooked up to a fMRI scanner and given catnip, to see the regions of the brain that are affected. I asked an animal behaviorist about this, and she noted that it wouldn’t work very well, because cats don’t respond well to the “sit” command. I defer to the experts and various links here for further explanation. It has been suggested that catnip affects cats in a pheromone-like manner. Generally kittens under 12 weeks of age are not affected by this plant.Ĭats contact nepetalactone via their olfactory organs. In addition, your new kitten will most likely not respond to catnip (good news, as kittens are plenty wild without drugs). Nepetalactone is the ingredient in catmint-a member of the mint family-that makes cats crazy. Rather it makes 70% of cats crazy about 30% of cats are unaffected by catnip. This catnip/veterinary page was also helpful in answering my questions. Could they be killing brain cells by smelling or consuming catnip? Is it habit forming? Is catnip a gateway drug for cats? I eagerly read the report, having always been conflicted about giving catnip to my cats. Cats frequently chew on and eat catnip.Ī report sought to explain why and how catmint affects cats. Once the cat gets the catnip (aka catmint, nepeta) she/he will rub her/his head and shoulders on the plant, lie down on it or even dash about the house. If you own a cat and bring catnip into the house, no matter where you put it, the cat will find it. Cat owners-and those that care about cats-know the power that catnip has on cats.
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