lipp@trout.DEC (Shiny smiles are IN) (01/06/86)
To Craig Kolb: > 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 have seen similar behavior with my cats. I have been growing catnip in my garden for two summers now and the cats just like to stand there and graze on it for awhile. One cat likes it better than the other. I notice the cat will act weird for the first few times she indulges, but mid-way through the summer, it doesn't seem to affect her in the same way. She still continues to eat the stuff since it is a good laxative. She likes to rub up against the stuff and sniff and rub, then eat, then act weird. I had talked to my vet about the behavior the cat exhibited and he said it was nothing unusual... Apparently there is an oil in the catnip which stimulates the nervous system in cats, similar to what caffine does to our system. I don't know if this calms your fears, but I wouldn't worry about it too much. My vet certainly wasn't concerned. Cats do build up a tolerance to the stuff. Nicki Lipp DEC--Colorado decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-bison!lipp