Wild Catnip Party in Progress at My House!

[momoffuzzyfaces]

Things have been a little dull for the boys lately, so I decided to throw them a catnip party this morning.
The first to arrive was Chester. I sprinkled some dried catnip on the old table we use as brushing station, food station, and alternate play area. He loved it and commenced to rolling in it. He was in obvious kitty heaven.

Luke was next on the scene. I scattered his on top of an old box that holds my ancient 360 (or was that 386?, never mind) computer. He proceeded to eat his catnip.

Leonardo came running to share in the fun. He enjoyed his in the bathroom on an OLD RECORD cabinet my brother made when he was in High School. (I told you it was OLD!)

Lastly, Leroy, decided to mosey in to see what was going on. He enjoyed his sprinkled on the floor. We must be mindful of old bones, you know.

Oh, such goings on! The rolls, flips, and crossed eyes I saw. Eventhough, we only had dried catnip, not fresh; I can honestly say, a great time was had by all. In fact, it is still going on but winding down, hopefully to long naps.

:eek: :D

[Former User]

Bummer, we haven't found any catnip yet, so I guess Casper and Kitty can't have their party yet.
I'm glad Luke, Chester, Leonardo and Leroy had fun! :)

[LoudLou]

WoW! Sounds like Chester, Luke and Leo had quite the fine time!

Casper & Kitty- You don't have Catnip in Belgium?!?!?! OOH the horror... no catnip?:confused: :eek:

[wolflady]

What a great way to 'spice' things up MOFF!!! :D Actually, your post gave me the idea that I should probably do the same for my boys. They haven't had any 'nip' as of late, and could probably use it!:D After a good romp in the nip, I have noticed that they do sleep a little better! :D :D Such a devious mom I am! LOL LOL

I'm glad that fun was had by all furkids!!
**hugs**

[Lachesis]

How fun!! My kitties sometimes like the nip but most of the time could care less :/
Someone said they might be a little too young still.

[lynnestankard]

Bet that was a real good party MOFF - glad the boys enjoyed your efforts so much :D :D :D
Are they still sleeping? LOL LOL

Lynne

[Former User]

Originally posted by LoudLou

Casper & Kitty- You don't have Catnip in Belgium?!?!?! OOH the horror... no catnip?:confused: :eek:

We do, but have to find it first! We found once but the price was way too much for a little bag like that... for the time being, C & K have to wait :(

[AmberLee]

I throw catnip parties about a half an hour before I want to go to bed ... devious, eh? The kids do sleep more heartily after their happy wild frolicking!

It seems less effective if we have them more often than once, maybe twice a week, tops. Do your kids get blase with it, too, after a while?

Most cats don't react to nip before they are six months old: I deliberately avoided toys with catnip on it prior to 'the magic' age. Livvy didn't respond at first so we thought she was one of those immune to it's allure, but she loves it now.

I've never tried valerian on cats, but have read that some cats respond more strongly to it than to nip. Any one who has seen their cat respond to both care to comment?

I've heard dried nip is a stimulant that the cats wear themselves out with, and that fresh is makes them sleepy without the feistiness -- my kids have only experienced dried. Again, is this accurate?

[LoudLou]

Originally posted by AmberLee

It seems less effective if we have them more often than once, maybe twice a week, tops. Do your kids get blase with it, too, after a while?

Yes, The Beans get bored with catnip but only if it's the cheap grocery store stuff. Cosmic Catnip or any of the "organic" get 'em evrytime.


Originally posted by AmberLee

....and that fresh is makes them sleepy without the feistiness -- my kids have only experienced dried. Again, is this accurate? We had wonderful neighbors at our last house who used to bring over FRESH catnip to The Beans, they would get extremely feisty and race around the house for about 15 min. or so and then they would CRASH for a long while. We called it Crash & Burn Nip. It was fun. :D

[zippy-kat]

Originally posted by Casper & Kitty


We do, but have to find it first! We found once but the price was way too much for a little bag like that... for the time being, C & K have to wait :(

Niina~

Would you like for Sophie and I to "smuggle" some nip for ya? ;)

Hmm...in all seriousness, I wonder:
1) if the postal service, etc. would allow it and
2) how much it'd cost

LOL...I can see the headlines now,
CAT LOVERS SAY, "IT'S JUST NIP" BUT POLICE OFFICIALS DISAGREE

[AmberLee]

Originally posted by zippy-kat
...I can see the headlines now ...

I've no idea what the postal regulations for mailing produce across country lines are, but once a friend in India decided to surprise me by mailing me a pound of tea. The postal inspectors here got rather excited, apparently. The never said a word to me, but the package was not ... intact when I got it and I had to go in to the P.O., identify myself, and pick it up. Felt rather like a (inept) criminal.

:eek: :rolleyes: ;)

[4 feline house]

I bought a bag of seeds a few weeks ago when I went to the grocery store. Unfortunately, it has rained every weekend since, so the seeds are still in the bag and my mums are still in their pots!

[gini]

Originally posted by zippy-kat


Niina~

Would you like for Sophie and I to "smuggle" some nip for ya? ;)

Hmm...in all seriousness, I wonder:
1) if the postal service, etc. would allow it and
2) how much it'd cost

LOL...I can see the headlines now,
CAT LOVERS SAY, "IT'S JUST NIP" BUT POLICE OFFICIALS DISAGREE

Hey, I am at the post office all of the time, so I will ask if we can ship it to Belgium. I don't think the problem would be at our end - but this funny smelling dried grassy stuff might get you into trouble at your end. Catnip - Right Lady!!!! We've heard it before.

But you know.............for Casper I would do anything!!!

Niina - can you imagine you and I in jail over a shipment of Catnip? Well, we would just get all of the PetTalkers to .....

TALK!!

[Former User]

Originally posted by gini


But you know.............for Casper I would do anything!!!

Niina - can you imagine you and I in jail over a shipment of Catnip? Well, we would just get all of the PetTalkers to .....

TALK!!

LOL Gini,that would look "good" the on the police papers "shipped to jail for catnip shipment" I bet that would make us real heroes in jail, LOL!

But seriously, THANK YOU everyone (Lynne too, got your PM), but you don't have to send that catnip, I'm sure sooner or later we will find one we can afford. The bag we saw wasn't worth of bying, being so small and costing a lot!
You are all so sweet, for offering to do this, wow! Getting a tear and two in my eyes....

[Pam]

Originally posted by AmberLee
I've heard dried nip is a stimulant that the cats wear themselves out with, and that fresh is makes them sleepy without the feistiness -- my kids have only experienced dried. Again, is this accurate?

I grow it in my flowerbed and bring in several leaves when I decide to throw a catnip party. Trevor rolls in it and gets all mellow and glassy-eyed. Andy is like a speeded up movie! He gets into a frenzy and attacks it while rubbing it all over his cheeks. The end result is they 'sleep it off!' LOL! I saw the seeds in a local gardening store last year, although my plants came from my sister-in-law several years ago. The nice thing is the plants come back every year.

[AmberLee]

Originally posted by Pam
... The nice thing is the plants come back every year.

I've bought little potted plants repeatedly and also tried growing it from seed. I seem to have a real 'thumb of death' with this particular herb. It may be my patio doesn't get enough sun; we pretty much face north and only get full sun just after dawn. A lot of light during the day, but little sun.

Does nip grow best in full sun? Or is it my 'death thumb' being activated again? ;) :p

[Mocha]

Hi everyone... I just wanted to ask" How does catnip work, exactly? I mean, I've heard so much about what it does, but how does it work? I haven't given my 6 mth old kitten any, coz i wanted to find out what it was for in the first place :) Sorry if i sound silly but i just needed to know

[AmberLee]

Hi Mocha, welcome to Pet Talk. It's a favorite spot of mine to talk about critters and their delightfulness and craziness.

Catnip's an herb that cats react to with delight. (At least most of them (uh, 60 - 75%?) do once they are 6 - 9 months; kitten's don't react to it.) It's fun to watch them react, and after 5 - 15 minutes, it's over and usually the cats are happy and exhausted. Some of us refer to catnip as a cheap 'kitty high'. Leah (4 feline) posted an article once about the physiological reactions the herb triggers in a cat, but although it was interesting, most of the details did not stay with me. If you want them, you could search the site for a post about 6 - 9 months ago by 4 feline subject catnip?

In general I prefer to get cat toys without the catnip scent, because at least my (fur) kids seem to get jaded and bored with it unless we 'restrict' it.

[luvdemabys]

I can't believe somebody has trouble growing the stuff...I tossed a few seeds out some years back and now it OWNS my back yard. Thank goodness for it....L'il Guy is on a diet of allergenic cat food ONLY...no canned fish (or any cannedcat food) no Pounce or Whiska Lickins, and he's convinced nobody loves him anymore. The catnip came up, and I brought a few leaves in for everybody before I thought....but the Vet says it's OK!!!! Generally, the Abys eat it, say thank you, and walk off...but occasionally they go NUTZ!

[Mocha]

You mean they can eat the stuff as well?? Well, here we only get the dried variety.. i think our local authorities have quite alot to say about unidentified herbs growing in our gardens hahaha... geez this whole catnip business sounds so dodgy :p But I think I'm going to give it a shot once my little boy grows old enough. :)

[Edwina's Secretary]

Catnip is related to mint, prefers full sun, and will grow like a weed and take over your garden as luvedmabys says. (I just took up and trasplanted some very aggressive mint -- hard to get it all!)

If you don't want catnip (or any mint plant) to take over the garden -- experts recommned planting it in a pot in the ground so it can't expand.

I grew some catnip for Edwina in a pot a few years back. Although she likes the dried stuff she was indifferent to the fresh so I gave up on it! SHe loves to eat the dry stuff after she finishes "enjoying it."

[Pam]

Originally posted by AmberLee
Does nip grow best in full sun? Or is it my 'death thumb' being activated again? ;) :p

The flowerbed with the catnip is in the back yard and faces south and now gets full afternoon sun. Last spring we had a huge tree removed not far from that flowerbed, but even before the tree was taken down I had success with my catnip and the plants got a lot less sun.

[Logan]

Amberlee, I think I have a "brown thumb" myself. We bought this cute "cat grass" set from KMart (a Martha Stewart special), it came with pots, soil, seeds, everything. It isn't coming up though! Water might help :o but now I know sunshine will help too! Thanks for the tips, girls! :) Just what Butter needs.....something to make him go even crazier!!! :D