Alt Text: A cartoon illustration of a happy and dazed cat floating high up in the sky above a neighborhood. Caption reads “The catnip had been particularly exceptional that morning.”
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While it’s fun to think otherwise, catnip doesn’t actually get cats ‘high’, and it certainly doesn’t make them hallucinate.
It’s just that one of the chemicals the plant produces is very similar to a pheromone that cats produce (and sense), causing certain social instincts to get triggered.
My understanding per a vet was that it’s akin to a short ecstasy hit for cats.
Almost like the “this feels good” feeling in a short hit.
That’s really interesting, I had no idea there was a connection to social hormones. I wonder if there’s a correlation (among catnip responders) between how social a cat is vs how they react to catnip?
I had an otherwise extremely timid near-feral cat who went VIOLENTLY insane on catnip, and our highly social boy we have now is just moderately into it, nowhere near the amount of excitement. I wonder if it’s because his social hormone receptors are already fairly activated.
Or it’s just random coincidence!
I just dropped in, to see what condition that my kitten was in…
