Cat Nip...

[MegTheFish]

This has got to be the stupidest question I've ever asked, but I've never given my cats cap nip before, I know you can buy cat nip toys but they never play with toys (they are 7 years old), so I bought a tub of it...and I thought that they just ate it, but my mom doesn't seem to think so? So what DO you do with it?

 

[soritan]

If the cat doesn't know, he's not interested.

If the cat's into catnip, he'll be very interested in it, and will want to eat it and roll around in it. If they're not, they'll just ignore it.

If your cat doesn't like catnip, it actually makes a fine tea for humans, as it's actually a member of the mint family. It's supposed to be quite calming, simmilar to camomile.

 

[MegTheFish]

Actually what I did was put a little bit of it on the lid of the container, and my cat went nuts, he ate it and grapped the lid and wouldn't give it back! It was pretty funny. He rolled in it like crazy, same with my other cat. I just didn't want to tell anybody because I didn't know if they were suppost to eat it or not LoL I just wanted to check to make sure it was edible...

 

[soritan]

I gave my cat a "catnip rope" once, it was great. He was lying flat on his side, and using both his claws to 'climb' the rope, and once he reached the end, he pushed the rope all the way back up with his hindquarters and started all over again. My other cat is less than a year old, and doesn't care about the catnip so much as the toy. Cats have all sorts of weird reactions to it, from going nuts to becoming sleepy and mellow. My adult cat also reacts to most mints that way. I found that out the hard way. There was this window sill mint garden... and one determined cat....

 

[Mr.September15]

If your cat doesn't like catnip, it actually makes a fine tea for humans, as it's actually a member of the mint family. It's supposed to be quite calming, simmilar to camomile.

sorry just had to

 

[soritan]

It just tastes like steepered mint, is all. Nothing nasty about it, simply because the word 'cat' is in the name. If you go down the tea isle, or the natural foods isle, there are actually several teas that are commercially avaiable with catnip in it. They often change the name so it reads, "catmint".

 

[SRC]

It all starts out very harmless

But it sometimes starts to escalate

Then it's time for an Intervention

 

[soritan]

Cosmic Catnip!

That's potent stuff. Even I was impressed when I bought my first Cosmic Catnip toy, I could smell how strong it was from inside the plastic, and I grew the stuff for them for a whole year, before I lost the good window due to a move.

My cat would delicately nibble on the catnip plant and save the rest for later. If anyone so much as nudged the pot it was in, he was concerned. "Hey, dude! That's mine!" and race over. I honestly thought he'd knock it over and devour it when I brought it home.

 

[The-Wolf]

My cats love the stuff bu I thought I'd tell you this little snippet

catnip/catmint also has the same effect on big cats (lions,tigers etc)
I saw an experiment on tv where they threw a huge hessian sack of
it in with some lions at a safari park (can't rember the name but the one Lord Bath owns)
with in minuets the lions were rolling around on the sack, dribbling and purring.

 

[Puffer_freak]

My cats love the stuff bu I thought I'd tell you this little snippet

catnip/catmint also has the same effect on big cats (lions,tigers etc)
I saw an experiment on tv where they threw a huge hessian sack of
it in with some lions at a safari park (can't rember the name but the one Lord Bath owns)
with in minuets the lions were rolling around on the sack, dribbling and purring.

That would be Longleat then... I don't watch the animal safari park program too much...

 

[MAM]

"If you don't talk to your cats about Nip, who will?"

Mine have never eaten it, they have all just loved to roll in it. We sprinkle it on the cat tower, on the carpet, then our cats just roll and go nuts. Growing up on acres, we had it growing wild in the woods behind our house. Used to find my cat rolling in the plants and looking quite glossy eyed and happy. We've always called it "Kitty Krack" with good reason..

 

[happyannie]

I make a catnip forest in my little backyard every year. Sometimes it grows back in the spring but sometimes I have to plant seed or kidnap some wild plants. There's a bald spot right in the middle of it so The old one crawls down in there and is in kitty-paradise for her afternoon nap. Last year we had a bad drought so I couldn't get it to grow no how no way. She was very irritated about it which she showed by shooting me dirty looks as only cats can do...... When I have to gather them inside, the plants are so tall by the end of the summer, I have to bend at the waist and reach down in there. HA! And they thought they were safe in the catnip forest!