Why do cats love catnip

If you’ve bought your cat catnip toys or given them catnip treats then you’ll know how much your cat loves catnip and you’ve probably wondered why. Cat nip seems to send cats crazy like they’re high, they love it and they become alert and more interactive after they’ve come into contact with it.  However not all cats have a reaction to catnip, it seems that there is a gene to determine whether a cat is affected or not.

So what is catnip

Catnip belongs to the mint family which is why sometimes it’s referred to as cat mint. The active ingredient in catnip is an oil called Nepetalactone.

Cat nip doesn’t have an effect on all cats; roughly about half of them and the predisposition to being affect by cat nip is supposedly hereditary. Also catnip doesn’t generally have an effect on kittens until they’re at least 3 month old.

Uses for catnip

If you want to encourage your cat to get more exercise and help them shed those extra pounds, exposing them to catnip will make them hyper and revert them back to their kitten like behaviour making them more active and in turn more healthy.

You can also rub or spray catnip oil on their scratching post to encourage them to use the post instead of your furniture.

Below is a video of a cat on catnip just to give you an idea of a cats behaviour on cat nip.

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