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Your cat probably knows it as Catnip or Catmint. But the stuff that drives your kitten crazy goes by the Latin name Nepeta cataria, and it’s a member of the genus Nepeta (derived from Nepete, the Italian town where catnip was first cultivated).
When a cat smells catnip it usually licks, chews, rubs against and rolls around on the plant, as well as salivates and meows. This reaction lasts for about 5 to 15 minutes, and then the cat loses interest and needs about two hours of “reset” time before it can have the same response. Amazingly, catnip doesn’t hold power over all felines. Response to catnip is genetically inherited, with about 70 to 80 percent of cats exhibiting the typical response to the plant. Of those, kittens younger than six months and very old cats are less likely to respond.
But why does the plant hold such power over your cat? The secret to catnip is nepetalactone, a volatile oil stored in tiny bulbs on the leaves, stems and seedpods of the plant. When nepetalactone enters a cat’s nasal tissue, it binds to olfactory receptors at the olfactory epithelium. Sensory neurons are stimulated and cause neurons in the olfactory bulb to send signals to the brain. Once the brain gets involved, things get a bit murky because we still don’t have a complete neurological explanation for cats’ behavioral reaction, but the prevailing theory is that nepetalactone mimics a cat pheromone.
Besides amusing our pets, is there any use for catnip?
Research from the early 1960s suggested that a mouthful of nepetalactone for insects that bit into the plant kept them away. Later experiments found that catnip oil had the same repellent effect as 10 times the amount of DEET, sparking the emergence of several “natural” insect repellants using nepetalactone.
Catnip also has a mild calming effect on people, and folk medicine prescribes it as a treatment for migraines, indigestion, insomnia, colic and toothaches.
[Image credit: icanhascheezburger.com]
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Comments (13)
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Love this post!! More like this, please!!
posted by Bri on 3-30-2009 at 8:51 am
In other words, catnip is weed for cats. Except legal.
posted by Alex on 3-30-2009 at 10:59 am
My cat has the same reaction to my Burt’s Bees lip balm. Is it the peppermint oil?
posted by loripop on 3-30-2009 at 12:01 pm
Great post, Matt! My cat is one of the minority – actual catnip has no hold over her. She has a very catnip-like reaction to my Orbit Sweet Mint chewing gum, though – she will go into my purse, pull out a piece, and rub all over it. We suspect it has something to do with mint and catnip being in the same family, so we tried it with peppermint extract at Christmas, with hilarious effects! Bella goes nuts over anything with peppermint extract on it, so we finally have a way to control her! Muhahahaha!
@loripop – I bet you’re right that your cat responds to the peppermint oil in the Burt’s Bees lip balm. Bella likes that, too!
posted by Lynley on 3-30-2009 at 1:15 pm
Great post, Matt! My cat is one of the minority – actual catnip has no hold over her. She has a very catnip-like reaction to my Orbit Sweet Mint chewing gum, though – she will go into my purse, pull out a piece, and rub all over it. Someone told me that mint and catnip are in the same family, so we tried it with peppermint extract at Christmas, with hilarious effects! Bella goes nuts over anything with peppermint extract on it, so we finally have a way to control her! Muhahahaha!
@loripop – I bet you’re right that your cat responds to the peppermint oil in the Burt’s Bees lip balm. Bella likes that, too!
posted by Lynley on 3-30-2009 at 1:18 pm
What about Ben-Gay? I’ve had two cats that just went nuts over it, licking it off wherever I’ve applied it, rubbing up against the area, etc. They were seriously acting high!
posted by Myra on 3-30-2009 at 1:57 pm
My roommate’s cat goes crazy over olive juice. It licks and rubs it’s entire body in it. Very weird!
posted by Scott on 3-30-2009 at 3:02 pm
I know this post is about cats, but it reminded me of the time my brother (being the “genius” that he is) gave my dog a diet milkshake. My dog went crazy, much like a cat does with catnip.
Captcha: the chowder
posted by Shelly on 3-30-2009 at 4:51 pm
My cat never responded to catnip, so I never knew what it was!
posted by Katie on 3-30-2009 at 5:05 pm
My cat and Lynley’s must have been separated at birth. No interest in catnip, but she went crazy over mint, especially spearmint. I couldn’t chew spearmint gum at home because she would constantly try to shove a paw or her nose into my mouth!
She also loved Olay Regenerist eye cream and would lick it off my face while I was sleeping.
posted by KarenInJapan on 3-31-2009 at 1:52 am
I read somewhere, years ago, that there is a different effect if the cat injests the stuff; tranquilizing as opposed to the stimulant effect of an external application.
A cat I had would get very silly when the stuff was sprinkled on the floor; she would roll around in it and then sort iof try to clean it up with her paws for a while. Very funny to watch.
posted by Eromanga on 4-1-2009 at 1:27 am
Our kitty – Brunhilda loves the oils & ointments I use on my shoulder and knee – a heavy mint aroma. She also goes nutso over an open (empty) valerian bottle – again a strong mint scent. One weekend while I was recovering from a dreadful fall, she’d curl up in my heavily aromatic clothing and fall asleep.
posted by DonnaLRC on 4-1-2009 at 2:01 am
Our old cat used to have much the same reaction with bleach. Whenever my mother (who considered bleach to be the only necessary cleaning agent, and always in great quantity) cleaned, he would go psychotic!
recaptcha: chairman meow – HA!
posted by Luis on 4-2-2009 at 4:30 pm