Sphynx cat eating catnip is a shocker. Photo: Andrew Marttila

It makes you look carefully; a stange combination of a hairless cat and a tongue covered in catnip. In my experience domestic cats don’t really eat catnip when it is loose as we see in the photo. They lick it up and spit it out. This behavior is part of a package of odd behaviors caused by catnip. Cats may at first play with a catnip toy as if it is prey. Then they might rub against it ecstatically and behave like a female cat in heat. Many cats drool and lick the catnip. Bleach can have a similar reaction sometimes (see article below).

I have written a lot about catnip so I won’t repeat myself here. I have written too much I am sure. Here are some pages if you are interested:

Catnip poisoning in cats

This is a red herring in my considered opinion. There are indications that people are using Google to search for ...
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Can a cat overdose on catnip and be poisoned by it?

Everyone says that a cat cannot be poisoned by catnip (Nepeta cataria) in the conventional sense. The worse that can ...
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Herbs for a cat – they can entertain and calm

This article was published on 6th June 2010 and is as applicable today as it was then: This is about ...
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Cats roll around on silvervine (matatabi) to protect themselves from mosquitoes

Most cat caregivers know that domestic cats get a non-addictive high from silvervine and catnip. Silvervine is also called matatabi ...
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What is the best and least stressful way to take a feral cat to the vet?

I think this is a very good question. What if you see an injured feral cat and you want to ...
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Why do some cats not react to catnip?

We don't know why some cats don't react to catnip! That's the complete and unhelpful answer. The experts think that ...
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