Canadian catnip?

[Randi]

I went to buy a bag of Hiils S/D and W/D today. My vet was not very busy, as he has now employed another vet. So we had a chat about this and that, and I asked about Fister's Glucose level, as it was slightly up when he had his teeth cleaning. However, he said it was nothing to worry about. :)

My vet knows about PT, and I mentioned that a lot of cats here are crazy about Canadian catnip. He would be interested in getting some to sell from his clinic.

Now, the question is, which catnip is it? Any particualr Brand?

[catmandu]

I generally get my Cat Nip from catfamily in Maine, who donate half to the Animal Welfare so they can make thier great Cat Nip Toys.
Thank You again Carla and Mike.
I would be careful of pet store Cat Nip, as it may have been of the shelf for a while.
Make sure that the Nip is green, and has an odor.
Good Luck Nip Hunting.

[Laura's Babies]

Catmandu can answer that but I don't think your vet will be able to get it.. We ALL here would already have it if we could... But BOY! Do the cats EVER love the stuff! My babies have a toy that Catmandu sent them a l-o-n-g time ago with that Canadian Catnip and it still drives them bonkers.

[Randi]

That catnip really sounds amazing! I wonder if I could get some seeds an plant some myself.

[slick]

That catnip really sounds amazing! I wonder if I could get some seeds an plant some myself.
The catnip that I get is all "buds" and no stems.... ;) :D :cool: I have never offered to send out any because Gary has the monopoly on this. As soon as I get more mobile I can send you some, Randi, and see where I can get some seeds for you to plant.

[Logan]

Gary's catnip is certainly the best I have ever seen! I can remember watching Butter with that mouse Gary sent and he was in Heaven! In fact, I think he tore the package open before I did, if I remember correctly. :) I had the funniest video of him rolling around with that thing!

[Don Juan's mom]

My "cat rancher" brother (3 cats, all rescues) has some catnip growing outside his house in north-central Pennsylvania. Says it makes pet store catnip look like weak oregano. ;) :D

Liz

[Sonia59]

In Europe (well, at least in several countries) we can hardly find catnip, and when we find some, the package is ridiculously small for a very high price :(

In France it's not very common to give catnip to our kitties. Poor guys :rolleyes: It is with PT that I realized how common it was in Canada and US!

Recently, my partner went to Canada for his work and I gave him the mission to find good catnip. He brought two brands, one was the "Cosmic" catnip, and I don't remember for the other one (I am not at home to check). I cannot give you a comparison with other brands, but these ones have been largely cat approved :D

Here is a link for the Cosmic catnip:
http://www.cosmicpet.com/detail.asp?col=3&id=1

Your vet could go to Canada, let's say for holidays, and bring one or too suitcases of catnip :D :D

[Crazy-Cat-Lover]

There is also Kooky Kat Catnip (http://www.kookykat.com)! My cats go crazy over the buds! :D

[Randi]

Thanks for the offer, Slick, but don't think about catnip now - you need to relax and get better. :) Are you back on e-mail? I got one back I sent the 5th.

The toys with catnip I've got for Fister over the years almost bored him to death, with one exception - the catnip doll ES got for him when we met in Munich. In fact I'll go and have a look at that picture to see who manufactored it.

I'm so stupid.... I was growing mint in my allotment garden, but I killed it all, as it was spreading like weed. I should have saved some to dry, now I know that mint and catnip is quite similar.

Sonia59 and Crazy-cat-lover, thanks for the links! :)

[Barbara]

Randi, mint won't work!
And with catnip it is different. Some cats like it and some are not interested. I have read in one of the thousands of PT threads that Australian kitties are genetically not prone to catnip.

Filou and Tigris didn't like real life fresh catnip I brought to them from a botanical garden- they prefer valeriane.

BUT- big BUT!!! they went crazy about the crocheted ball from catmandu and from the mousie I bought one time in Vancouver- so I am wondering whether Canadian catnip might be a different species from what they sell here.

[Freedom]

I grow my own catnip in the back garden. It spreads FAST and uncontrollably. The cats love it fresh. When we take them out in the back while we are gardening, Chestnut just goes and sits in the middle of the catnip, nibbles a bit from the right, a bit from the left, and doesn't move until he lies down to sleep it off. The others nibble that along with grass. Often we look out the window and see the neighborhood cats taking a nibble. I think every cat in a one mile radius has my back yard on its route!

Last Autumn I picked a lot and dried it in the microwave. I pulled the leaves off the branches and stems, set them on a paper towel, put another paper towel on top, and put it in. It only takes about 1.5 minutes. I had a great crop last year, and I was drying for almost an hour. The house smelled wonderful! During the drying, first the cats all came to gather in the kitchen; then they started dashing about; then they all disappearred to sleep it off.

It was much more potent than the Cosmic Catnip I normally buy, but I think that is just because it was fresher. Over time, I needed to put out more to get the kitties to respond to it. Ruffles just rolls and rolls and rolls, rocking the cat perch she is in!

There is also something called catmint. Cats do NOT respond to that It is sold here in the Spring as a flower, for people who don't want all the neighborhood cats visitng.

I have other herbs growing including mint, the cats ignore everything else.

We have been traveling so much this year the garden didn't get any attention and didn't do well. We are away just now and won't be home until after Nov 1. I think that may be too late for drying any catnip this year.

[Edwina's Secretary]

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid206/p145cb5799d360676d8a7e47487f8cb16/eecc2183.jpg

I am growing it too and have been wonder how to dry it. Thank you Freedom....I am off to pick some nip....

p.s. I grow it in a pot (now a different one from this) as I do with all mint so it won't take over...

[moosmom]

My friend Kathy has it growing in her back yard EVERYWHERE!! To dry it, she hangs it upside down in the garage.

I can have her send me some if you like. It's not from Canada, just over the border in Michigan, though. Let me know.

[Freedom]

Several things.

I didn't mean to dis Cosmic; that is the brand I buy when I need to buy it. It is great, and I use the containers for the one I dry.

Second, I have regular mint - for ice tea and such - in a pot. I have been 3 years - yeah, YEARS -trying to get the rest of it out of the garden! With seven cats, I would need quite a few pots for the catnip. :rolleyes: We also put some chicken wire around the base of some of it. With my cats and the neighborhood cats all partaking, they could potentially eat it right down the to roots and it would die off.

Edwina's Secretary: BEWARE. I had the paper towels catch fire on one batch last year in the microwave! I had been at it a long time, I was tired, I wasn't paying attention. Turn the microwave off, but don't open the door; that just gives the fire air to consume. With the door closed, it dies out fast. I tried, but the cats disapproved of that batch, and I had to throw it out. Charcoal taste, I guess. :D

I dry many of my herbs this way. Some take a little longer than others, depends how much moisture is in it. Basil, oregano, lemon balm, mint, parsley, and so forth.

[Edwina's Secretary]

Worked perfectly! Here is Eddie smpling the first batch....
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid216/p48c0a839f14f17a71917e398b2d7e444/ec8e10dc.jpg

and here he is encouraging me to cook some more!!!
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid216/p1c100a29a3df686b616d6f064551dac1/ec8e1089.jpg
(see the Ladylike Edwina waiting on the table in the background...no kitchen for her!)

I also quickly learned to look on the bottom of the leaves....for bugs.... :eek: :eek:

[Freedom]

Eddie, is it yummy in the tummy?! :D

I am so glad you got this for them!

[Killearn Kitties]

Our cats love the Cosmic Catnip. That seems to be the brand sold here that they like most. Of course, Uncle Gary's catnip toys are just the best!

[Cinder & Smoke]

I generally get my Cat Nip from catfamily in Maine,
who donate half to the Animal Welfare so they can make thier great Cat Nip Toys.

Maybe Gary or CatFamily can better explain this ...

Does Gary get "loose" catnip from CatFamily OR the completed Toys??

WHERE do the completed CatNip TOYS come from - Gary, CatFamily, or Animal Wefare??
http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/confused.gif

Big Question is Where does the actual CatNip come from ... Canada or the USA??
Maybe it's NOT sourced in Canada??

http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/confused.gif

[iamgobsmacked]

Cut some long stalks and bunch together and tie or secure with a piece of string or elastic. Place in a large paper bag with stems out. Just put away for a couple of weeks until the plants are dry and crispy and remove the green from the stems and store in a bottle. You will find the catnip keeps much better in a glass jar than in plastic.

The best catnip I have every found that grows into beautiful shrubs quickly comes from Richters.

http://www.richters.com/

[Randi]

Oh yes, Canadian catnip - what is in it that are not in the others. :confused:

These are the presents Fister got when we visited Munich a few years ago. As you will notice, the doll was and still is his favourite. :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/Fister/Diverse/Fs-presents.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/Fister/Diverse/F-catnip.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/Fister/Diverse/cattoy.jpg

Thanks Barbara, I’m glad I didn’t clear the mint for no reason. ;)

And thanks to you who offered to send some, even seeds from it would be great - but what will the customs think it is! LOL! :eek: I could plant some on John's grave, I'm sure he's approve. :) Only, I can't take Fister over there on a leash, and I don't think he'd follow me.

[Blue_Frog]

Heres a pretty good article on Wiki about catnip

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catnip

-- it says theres about 250 different kinds of species of catnip (if i read it correctly), so I guess it makes sense that some will be stronger or different than others. I remember smelling some european catmint in a plant store and thinking that it didn't smell anything like the stuff I had at home.

I lucked out this year, and found a huge cache of catnip growing on the lakeshore near my house, so i cut and bundled it all up, hung it upside down in the garage to dry out -- i have 4 very large ziplock bags very tightly packed with catnip in the freezer right now, just waiting to be made into cat toys :)

The best part? Once you learn to identify the growing plant, you see it everywhere. Its the kind of plant that can grow almost anywhere, but you can usually find a lot of them in fields, ditches, etc. Since catnip is in the same family with the other Mints, it follows along the same lines -- all mints have a square stem with leaves evenly spaced on opposite sides up the stem (too one too many courses in wild edible plants *lol*).

Did you know too, that catnip is good for cramps if used as a tea? Its a mild muscle relaxant amongst other things. I've tried drinking catnip tea before, but its pretty strong. Not terrible if mixed with other mints though.

[catmandu]

I Get The Loose Catnip From Cat Family And The Ladies From Animal Welfare Add It To The Wild Cat Nip That They Gather On Abandoned Farms . And From Places In The Farmlands Where It Grows Naturally.
We Are In A City Yet We Are Only A Stones Throw From What Used To Be Some Very Productive Farms.
Sadly Farming Is Too Chancy And Is Too Hard Work And A Lot Of These Farms Are Simply Sitting There Going To Waste, Or Slowly Being Covered In Suburbs.