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?