Wild Catnip Party in Progress at My House!

[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?

[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 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?

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 but now I know sunshine will help too! Thanks for the tips, girls! Just what Butter needs.....something to make him go even crazier!!!