Catnip Ain’t the Only Plant That’ll Send Your Kitty to Blissville
Most cats love nip, and many cat owners love watching their companions nip out. But not all cats freak out when they sniff the fragrant herb—some just don’t react at all. Which is a shame, because catnip can be a boon for under-stimulated indoor kitties, who can get so stressed with lack of activity that they can develop diseases. However, a new study shows that there might be some alternatives for the nip-immune. At least three other plants emit chemical odors capable of turning your furball into a puddle of purr, and one of them is potentially more potent than nip itself. The finding doesn’t just give cat owners more options to sprinkle on their pet’s cardboard scratchbox: It might help solve the chemical mystery of why cats love nip so much….
The fun starts when cats catch the scent of nepetalactone, catnip’s active ingredient. It’s a terpene, which is an aromatic compound in the same family as the skunky chemicals that give marijuana its characteristic funk. Scientists figured out the nepetalactone-cat link back in the 1940s, but still don’t know which genes make some cats start pawing themselves like teenage ravers whenever they catch a whiff of eau de nip. Which would be interesting, given that catnip doesn’t seem to serve any real genetic purpose: It’s not a food or a sexual stimulant, it’s basically just a recreational narcotic. . And figuring out that genetic link wouldn’t just a matter of sequencing kitty spit from a nippin’ Nebelung and comparing it with DNA from some straight edge Siamese. “There are also environmental causes for the catnip response, because in our observations some cats won’t respond when they are feeling threatened, or others when they are pregnant,” says Tony Buffington, cat veterinarian emeritus at UC Davis.
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