What does catnip actually do?

[Wyvern971]

I ask as loads of people say it drives the cat crazy.

I've bought toys which supposedly have catnip in, but our cat doesn't seem to play with them (or show any interest in them).

Questions really would be;
Does this only affect female cats (Ours is a castrated male)
Would this mean the stuff I have is crap (almost sounds like I'm trying to score for my cat!)
Where would i get decent stuff



Cheers

[jesta1865]

depends, i had cats in the past that went mental for it, and yet cats from the same litter just ignored it.

[m0ssy]

Smack for cats

Those toys you can buy don't have that much catnip in them but you can buy the stuff in its natural dried form which is better, I think most large pet stores keep it in this format or go online.

I have filled the bottom part of an old sock, tied it, doubled it over, and tied again and cut off the excess which leaves a ball type object filled with the stuff.

Trouble was I did get concerned when an hour or two later the cat is still playing with it in a sense of delirium..... kindof made me feel like a pusher so took it away and hid it.

The smell gets weaker over time and in turn the cats seemed to get less interested in it.

[Deva Link]

jesta1865 said:

depends, i had cats in the past that went mental for it, and yet cats from the same litter just ignored it.

Yep - same here.

[tali1]

I watched on TV cats going totally hyper and frothing on catnip -they were totally drugged up- but this was a catnip plant, rather than a toy
Wonder if catnip works on the other type of pussy?

[itsnotarace]

One of ours loves it. We have a bag of herbal catnip that we dunk his toys in every now and again. His sister isn't the slightest bit interested

This is the best commercial catnip toy we've found

http://www.luxurypetdept.com/products/catnip-banan...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgyCGWungnI

[PaulG40]

We've got it in a spray form, doesn't really work unless its just our cat thats weird. Gonna have to get some herbal catnip ordered when we order some 'lion poo' (yes, you read that right! )

[Jonnas]

More like CatCrack than CatSmack. Mine ignore all the toys but go mental with the couple of plants we have in the garden. Get one, it's impossible to kill and it's a good source of amusement.....

[Zelda Pinwheel]

Culpeper do the best catnip known to felinekind

http://www.culpeper.co.uk/acatalog/Catnip-Toys-Cat...

not the cheapest available, but the best quality, lasts for ages and in the last 15 years, only a couple have ever had their guts spilled... which, considering that this one brings in a dead rodent at least 4 times a week, is pretty good going.


IMG_0083 by

[PaulG40]

Culpeper?


Had me thinking for a mo then. As we use CulpepPers for our husky dog sledding stuff and collars etc.

[Ladyhayles]

Zelda Pinwheel said:

Culpeper do the best catnip known to felinekind

http://www.culpeper.co.uk/acatalog/Catnip-Toys-Cat...

not the cheapest available, but the best quality, lasts for ages and in the last 15 years, only a couple have ever had their guts spilled... which, considering that this one brings in a dead rodent at least 4 times a week, is pretty good going.

+1 for Culpeper. A friend of ours bought our two cats a catnip fish from Culpeper for Xmas last year. Its still going strong and still sends them mental and its been dumped in the water bowl and dried out several times! Plus when they've been playing with it a while it also needs drying out because they have slobbered over it so badly. Other catnip toys we've bought don't even get touched, I think they've become catnip snobs!

[Andy_GSA]

Ladyhayles said:

+1 for Culpeper. A friend of ours bought our two cats a catnip fish from Culpeper for Xmas last year. Its still going strong and still sends them mental and its been dumped in the water bowl and dried out several times! Plus when they've been playing with it a while it also needs drying out because they have slobbered over it so badly. Other catnip toys we've bought don't even get touched, I think they've become catnip snobs!

Another +1 for Culpeper catnip toys, our cats go mad for them. The local shop currently has a waiting list for when they get more stock in.

[bexVN]

Yeowww also do an excellent range of catnip toys we had this rainbow one for ages. All three would play with it at various times.
http://www.partnerspets.com/store/product/20672/Be...

Several varieties available via ebay.

Catnip has been shown to provide aphrodisical effects in cats but no one seems to know why. It affects males and females neutered or uneutered to varyin degrees, some barely seem to bother ot6hers (either sex) go nuts for it!)

One thing it always is, is fun to watch the reaction

[Steve Evil]

Supposedly kittens and older cats aren't affected in the same way. Ours is nearly 14 and he does seem to like it when we spray it on his toys, but he doesn't go mental for it. It's great for introducing him to a new scratching post though, a few sprays onto it and he then marks it with his scent and is quite happy using it from then on.

I'm going to try getting hold of one of the plants and see how he likes that.

[mad4amanda]

Try growing it in the garden ours used to lay all over it probably tripping the day away!

[JamieBeeston]

I know quite a few PH'rs have bought stuff from one of our PH brothers on here.

Catnip Cat Toys

Nothing but praise!

[Superficial]

Some cats just don't have the catnip 'gene', around 30% of cats that is. We have five cats, three who go mad for the stuff and two siblings who don't bat an eyelid at it.

[Broomsticklady]

I've just put 2 new bags down and they've both been kicked around by all 7 in turn!! I use plain boring sacks from Cats Protection - some of the commercially available stuff doesn't hack it but these do seem to work - and you're giving to a charity rathert han a retailer!!

[mrsxllifts]

Our cat doesn't give a st about it, we have toys, fresh, dried, spray and he is totally not interested. He showed a slight bit of interest in the half kilo bag of aussie stuff that was in a cupboard he got in but think that was just a means to the treat sticks. We have tons of toys, climber things, balls, motorised mice etc and he does do anything with any of them, but a knotted crisp wrapper....

[Negative Creep]

One we used to have would love to eat it but then do nothing besides sit there and dribble