along without catnip.

For our oldest girl, it is a pain reliever. I buy pots of fresh herb each spring
at the plant nurseries. We do get it on our property, but it is fugitive..and often suddenly disappears. So I buy fresh each season just in case. That picture I posted on Kell's kitten thread has Oreo sitting on my potting table with this season's new catnip. She looks pretty mellow because of IT I think.
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You can see it in that pic behind her.

Our oldest girl will smash a pot of it down in no time!

All three of our cats love it in different ways. I also pinch it back when we leave
for vacation--- a long car trip for them--- and put it in their cages. I take some up there each summer, as the soil base there seems to refuse my attempts to naturalize it. Must be a pH thing or something. It seems to settle them down, and the howling/crying is minimized. We use the dried herb, Cosmic Catnip is a good brand, over the winter.

You know I've met people who think this is decadent and immoral even.
My husband's cousin who is a nurse of all people, will not give her cat --cat nip.
People think this is a DRUG like MJ is..and therefore should be withheld. I don't see it that way at all.

Here is a funny story: One summer this disbelieving cousin, came to me and was upset that her cat had "disappeared" in the house/cabin area and wouldn't come out. (It was the first season she had brought her up there..an island that is very wild and different from the city). Losing a cat up there --going feral--can be a terrible thing. So I pinched off some fresh catnip --amidst protestations-- and followed her down the path. We got to her cabin, and I pointed out that all the DOGS over the years there had to have left scent. No cats had ever been in her house--so her cat may be afraid a DOG will show up! So I sat on the couch, and put my hand over the side casually and started bruising the leaves letting the aroma out. (this is how I give it to our girls). Keeping our tone low, and not calling her or anything, I just sat there and we talked for a while. All of a sudden I detected movement out of the corner of my eye, down there where I held the catnip. Her kittie had snuck out of her hidey hole, and slowly was advancing on me, and all of a sudden she snatched the herb right out of my hand and disappeared again! It was so funny! So I knew she'd be okay. (she was over 10 yrs old then, and I bet had never had or experienced this treat!)

This cousin thought catnip is like LSD for cats! Hence evil.
I think catnip is a tonic, and helps them feel better. Kittens often do not respond to it, and some adult cats do act strangely when exposed to it. Our cats love to eat it fresh..and I think it helps with digestion and hair balls for them too. People you know consume catnip..it is common in the South, and considered a carminative. Here is a fascinating website:

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My son's hyper second kittie is just leaving kittenhood, and she does not respond much to catnip..the fresh type...yet. I'll try her next spring and see if she is "resistant"?
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That is so funny, Julie .. about your policeman friend. Back in the 60's I knew a gal who was detained at the border between Canada and NY, because of catnip in a baggie. They thought it was "you know what" LOL. She was put in jail until the tests came back. Makes for an interesting story these days, but at the time it freaked her out!
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