I sell a lot of cat toys in my etsy shop. Every single one of them contains cat nip. Does this mean that I'm a kitty drug peddler? Apparently the answer is yes.Not every cat reacts the same way to cat nip. Only about 3 out of every 4 will go wild for the stuff. The reaction seems to have a heavy genetic component; American felines often love it while their Australian counterparts tend to ignore it.
Humans usually find the odor pleasant but not overly interesting, probably because we don't use our noses the same way that cats do. I always assumed that the reactive chemical in the nip, (called nepetalactone) somehow stimulated the cat's vomeronasal organ, a chemoreceptor that we lack. Recent studies show that this isn't the case. Instead the nepetalactone binds to receptors in their olfactory epithelium where it probably mimics a feline pheromone. The result is temporary euphoria and possibly mild hallucinations.
This reaction is short-lived, however, and after a few minutes the kitty usually gets tired of rolling around and acting crazy. They will then be immune to the siren song of the nip for about two hours, after which they may return to the same toy for another hit.
There is conflicting data on the reaction of big cats (lions, tigers, pumas, and such) to nip. Some tigers seem to love it, but most seem to be fairly indifferent. Then again, these guys are a lot bigger than our charming feline housemates, so maybe they just need really big toys to fully appreciate cat nip's recreational potential.
That is most interesting! I sometimes will give my cats catnip in bowls. Yes, they eat it! One cat does not usually seem particularly affected while the other one does go crazy, actually rather quickly.
ReplyDeleteInteresting! My cat seems to run in streaks. Some weeks she'll love it, other weeks she isn't bothered to go near it at all. Very odd.
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm a kitty drug dealer too. My catnip items sell often too! Thanks for the lesson, I especially enjoyed the molecule diagram.
ReplyDeleteWow fascinating! How do you come up with such in depth, educational blogs?! I'm again impressed!
ReplyDeleteNow that is quite facinating, thank you! Both of my cats absolutely love the catnip from my garden. I wonder if "wild" catnip is different then commercially grown catnip?
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone!
ReplyDeleteAmber, your kitty drugs are fantastic!
Jewelz, as I understand it cat nip grows wild in Europe and has recently become established as a weed in a large part of the US. I think the wild kind is the same as the commercial stuff, except that it might be more "organic" ;)
Your cat toys are so freakin' cool. Have you ever seen those compressed catnip balls they make? They make them for large cats, too! They're the size of bowling balls and cost over a hundred dollars.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tatty! I've seen the little compressed balls, but not the big ones! That sounds like way, way too much fun!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great post. My three inside cats enjoy an occasional catnip trip, each with a different degree of "craziness". Actually, one of them likes to sit on the catnip toy--go figure! My outside cat totally ignores catnip.
ReplyDeleteThanks kitty drug dealer. My cat loves your toys!
ReplyDeleteI love this post. I have had many cats and they all respond a little differently to cat nip. I tried to grow catmint once but the cats in the neighborhood actually ate it right down to the ground. One of my cats goes absolutely crazy on it and the other...well he just looks like a happy stoner...;-)
ReplyDeleteI don't own a cat, but my sister has a few. I always wondered why cats love it but it doesn't seem to affect humans or dogs. Thanks for the informative post!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post, and of course I love the tapir catnips. May talk to you about that once things settle down a bit. It could be after March 1.
ReplyDeleteI wish they made dog nip. Haha. My bulldog would go crazy for it.
ReplyDeleteFish bakeries? I think not. I was troubled that the beautiful fish were being fed non-native food. It was probably not at all good for them, but they did like it and snapped it up as if they were colorful little sharks.
ReplyDeleteInteresting and informative!
ReplyDeleteVery informative and humorously bit of cat anatomy and physiology - especially the vomeronasal sac and its chemoreceptors. I'll let you know what prefered shape of container (Hallucigenia, Trilobite, Nudibranch) the cats seem to prefer. My guess is that it's what's inside that counts.
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