ted@teldata.UUCP (Ted Becker) (04/03/84)
********* A few years ago my wife planted some catnip in out back yard and our cats would discover it every so often an go crazy rolling in it. It lasted for about two years before the grass edged it out. Ralph was most interested in the catnip lived to be 15 years so I don't think it hurt him. We also have a mostly black female who so no interest at all in catnip. Is there some gender or breed corelation to liking catnip?
tjj@ssc-vax.UUCP (T J Jardine) (04/05/84)
We have had at least one cat in our household for almost twenty years. Never have had any problem that could even be remotely connected to the use of catnip. The most significant problem I've ever heard of with respect to catnip is the children who got sick after rolling their own cigarettes using catnip instead of tobacco. The large paper bag sounds like a good idea. We spread out newspapers or just spread it over the carpet and make sure to vacuum the next day. "A ball of twine, a rubber mouse, and thou beneath the catnip tree" Ted Jardine -- TJ (with Amazing Grace) The Piper ...uw-beaver!ssc-vax!tjj
walsh@ihuxi.UUCP (B. Walsh) (04/05/84)
I had an interesting experience with my two male cats. They love catnip, and once I lost my mind momentarily (!) and let them have an olive. They went nuts over it, as though it were catnip! They batted it around (Yecchh! .. at least it was on linoleum), and rolled around on it just like catnip. And it was just a plain old stuffed green olive. I wonder what the attraction was? Cats are Crazy, B. Walsh
claudia@emory.UUCP (Claudia Harrelson) (04/06/84)
I once had a cat. . .she loved giant olives. She would
carry the olive around in her mouth, and then play with
it (to death) before eating it.
claudiamike@aurora.UUCP (Mike Lee) (08/31/85)
I purchased a catnip plant for my cats a couple of weeks ago. When I went to take some leaves off of it today I found that the back of the leaves are infested with little dark green bugs. Does anyone out there know how to get rid of them (ie insecticides) without hurting my cats? I appreciate the assistance. Michael Lee
bob@astrovax.UUCP (Bob Masterson) (01/03/86)
This has probably been discussed here before, but... Does anybody know the details of what catnip does to cats? I got Zaphod some for Christmas, and he completely freaked out (jumping around, doing flips, and then zonking out on the couch for the rest of the day). All this made me wonder if catnip doesn't do something . . . bad to a cat's system. Any more enlightened cat owners out there? Craig Kolb (~Bob) astrovax!bob
jcp@osiris.UUCP (Jody Patilla) (01/04/86)
> Does anybody know the details of what catnip does to cats? I got Zaphod > some for Christmas, and he completely freaked out (jumping around, doing > flips, and then zonking out on the couch for the rest of the day). All this > made me wonder if catnip doesn't do something . . . bad to a cat's system. As far as I've been able to tell, no, although they do get habituated to it, so you shouldn't give it to them very often. Catnip is also used by people, but for the opposite reason - it has a tranquilising effect on humans. None of my herbal sources lists any problem with it at, no more than you would find with camomile or mint (catnip is a mint, by the way). -- jcpatilla "If we can send a man to the moon, why can't we send all of them ?"
msf@rayssd.UUCP (Michael S. Frank) (01/06/86)
> Does anybody know the details of what catnip does to cats? I got Zaphod > some for Christmas, and he completely freaked out (jumping around, doing > flips, and then zonking out on the couch for the rest of the day). All this > made me wonder if catnip doesn't do something . . . bad to a cat's system. > I, too, would like to know. I just recently gave my two 11 week old kittens some catnip. They didn't like it (I had to trick them into eating it by mixing it with tuna). After they did eat it, they were only slightly more active than normal. Are there some cats that catnip won't affect? Did their age have anything to do with it? -- Michael Frank allegra!rayssd!msf <Include generic and specific disclaimers> <about everything I say, do, and think! >
marauder@fluke.UUCP (Bill Landsborough) (01/10/86)
In article <1776@rayssd.UUCP> msf@rayssd.UUCP (Michael S. Frank) writes: >> Does anybody know the details of what catnip does to cats? I got Zaphod >> some for Christmas, and he completely freaked out (jumping around, doing >> flips, and then zonking out on the couch for the rest of the day). All this >> made me wonder if catnip doesn't do something . . . bad to a cat's system. >> >I, too, would like to know. I just recently gave my two 11 week old kittens >some catnip. They didn't like it (I had to trick them into eating it by mixing >it with tuna). After they did eat it, they were only slightly more active than >normal. Are there some cats that catnip won't affect? Did their age have >anything to do with it? >-- >Michael Frank Catnip is not meant to be injested, just smelled by the cats. We wrapped it up in a small sock and the cats just smell it and they get crazy. And it lasts for months like that. Bill Landsborough
pete@valid.UUCP (Pete Zakel) (01/10/86)
> I, too, would like to know. I just recently gave my two 11 week old kittens > some catnip. > -- > Michael Frank Horrors! Getting young kittens hooked on drugs! (:-) Seriously, I've found that giving younger kittens catnip turns them off to it. I always wait til my cats are at least 6-8 months old before I introduce them to the stuff (usually 1 year old) and they seem to enjoy it a lot. Cats I've had that I gave catnip to when they were very young never liked it when they got older. -Pete Zakel (..!{hplabs,amd,pyramid}!pesnta!valid!pete)
smh@mhuxl.UUCP (henning) (01/11/86)
**** ****
From the keys of Steve Henning, AT&T Bell Labs, Reading, PA mhuxl!smh
> Catnip is not meant to be injested, just smelled by the cats.
Catnip is a plant in the mint family. My wife has a large patch in her
vegetable garden. About a dozen neighborhood cats enjoy it immensely
all year long. They roll in it and eat it; yes EAT IT. Since they are
all healthy and since it is a natural herb, I can't see anything wrong
with ingestion or were you jesting about injesting. Also, if you believe
in a creator, I think only he/she knows what it was "meant" for. Obviously
cats think it is meant to be eaten, and thoroughly enjoyed. Even the
kittens in the neighborhood visit it regularly, even after they become
cats.marauder@fluke.UUCP (Bill Landsborough) (01/13/86)
In article <451@mhuxl.UUCP> smh@mhuxl.UUCP (henning) writes: >**** **** >From the keys of Steve Henning, AT&T Bell Labs, Reading, PA mhuxl!smh > >> Catnip is not meant to be injested, just smelled by the cats. > >Catnip is a plant in the mint family. My wife has a large patch in her >vegetable garden. About a dozen neighborhood cats enjoy it immensely >all year long. They roll in it and eat it; yes EAT IT. Sorry about that. I was wrong about cats eating catnip. Like you say it is an herb and there should be nothing wrong them eating it. Bill Landsborough ---- "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we become the righteousness of God in Him." 1Corinthians 5:21
tc@amd.UUCP (Tom Crawford) (01/15/86)
*this is gonna drive the line-eater totally crazy* I think that catnip toys you buy at the pet store are much too expensive. You can make a perfectly seviceable catnip toy by getting bulk catnip ($.55 oz) at any good herb or tea store. You put a little on a small (say 3 in sq) piece of fabric and tie it up with dental floss. Don El Gato likes it best when I use the pocket from an old white shirt. Also you can grow it (as has been pointed out here recently). I put it into a cage (upside-down moss basket) to prevent it from grabbing the cat by the cajones as he is strolling through his garden because he otherwise has a bad habit of thrashing it. As the guy across the street says, "yeah, they'll smoke it all up in one day". Tom Crawford
augustc@zeus.UUCP (01/15/86)
> Also you can grow it (as has been pointed out here recently). I put it into > a cage (upside-down moss basket) to prevent it from grabbing the cat by the > cajones as he is strolling through his garden because he otherwise has a bad > habit of thrashing it. As the guy across the street says, "yeah, they'll > smoke it all up in one day". I have never been able to grow catnip outdoor. They were not bother by cats until they got to a certain size. Then they started making that volatile oil that is so attractive to the local feline population and overnight entire plants would disappear. Also, a note on flea collar. It should not be so loose that the wearer can stick its lower jaw into it while cleaning itself. It happened to one of my former cats. The poor guy got his lower canine teeth caught on the flea collar and had his jaw forced open for the whole day while I was at work. Augustine C.
booter@lll-crg.ARpA (Elaine Richards) (01/16/86)
In article <2134@amd.UUCP> tc@amd.UUCP (Tom Crawford) writes: > >I think that catnip toys you buy at the pet store are much too expensive. You >can make a perfectly seviceable catnip toy by getting bulk catnip ($.55 oz) at >any good herb or tea store. You put a little on a small (say 3 in sq) piece >of fabric and tie it up with dental floss. Don El Gato likes it best when I >use the pocket from an old white shirt. Another note re:catnip toys. They are NOT always going to have catnip in them. For Christmas, my roommate (an avowed Large Dog Man) decided to bury the hatchet with Mehitabel by showering her with cat toys. She won't play with them. He suspected that the catnip sock was defective. He opened it up and emptied it. IT WAS ENTIRELY STUFFED WITH STRAW!! Straw is decidedly not catnip. He reloaded the thing with catnip and resewed (there is something very endearing about a man wielding a needle and thread to amke peace with a 8 pound tabby). The cat will at least sniff it and flop over (her way of being stoned). Don't buy "catnip toys". Roll your own. After all, why should cat drugs be any different than yours? :-) E *****
suze@terak.UUCP (Suzanne Barnett) (01/16/86)
> **** **** > From the keys of Steve Henning, AT&T Bell Labs, Reading, PA mhuxl!smh > > > Catnip is not meant to be injested, just smelled by the cats. > > Catnip is a plant in the mint family. My wife has a large patch in her > vegetable garden. About a dozen neighborhood cats enjoy it immensely > all year long. They roll in it and eat it; yes EAT IT. Since they are When I lived in Nebraska, I had catnip growing wild in my flowerbeds. My cats did just as you describe, rolling in it and eating it. Needless to say, with them rolling in it it doesn't remain too attractive a plant, but as a mint, it is enormously hardy. My cats have never been partial to the dried stuff you can buy in the stores (either before or since their experience with the live plants); I can't say I blame them. try smelling the difference if you ever get the chance. The dried stuff is musty/dusty smelling. The fresh stuff smells like a mint. -- Suzanne Barnett-Scott uucp: ...{decvax,ihnp4,noao,savax,seismo}!terak!suze CalComp/Sanders Display Products Division 14151 N 76th Street, Scottsdale, AZ 85260 (602) 998-4800
szepesi@fluke.UUCP (Les Szepesi) (01/17/86)
> **** **** > From the keys of Steve Henning, AT&T Bell Labs, Reading, PA mhuxl!smh > > > Catnip is not meant to be injested, just smelled by the cats. > > Catnip is a plant in the mint family. My wife has a large patch in her > vegetable garden. About a dozen neighborhood cats enjoy it immensely > all year long. They roll in it and eat it; yes EAT IT. After having eaten spaghetti sauce with catnip in place of oregano (don't ask) I can testify that ingesting it is not a problem. Makes a strange sauce, though -- Les Szepesi decvax\ John Fluke Mfg Co. ihnp4 >!uw-beaver\ PO Box C9090 MS 274G allegra >!fluke!szepesi Everett, WA 98206 USA ucbvax >!lbl-csam / (206) 356-6362 hplabs/