Why cats are crazy for catnip • Hacker News Board

FrozenVoid wrote: post #7

blindm wrote: post #2

Is the high similar to heroin/morphine etc in humans? Because if it is, then is catnip not addictive to a cat? What if a cat discovers whole fields of the stuff and decided to revel in it until death? It's unlikely but it could happen

What if a human discovers whole aisles of cheese and decided to relish in it until casomorphin overdose?

I've made my choice, leave me be.

Re: Why cats are crazy for catnip

#14

Post by aasasd » Thu, Jan 21, 2021, 1:17 PM UTC

FrozenVoid wrote: post #7

blindm wrote: post #2

Is the high similar to heroin/morphine etc in humans? Because if it is, then is catnip not addictive to a cat? What if a cat discovers whole fields of the stuff and decided to revel in it until death? It's unlikely but it could happen

What if a human discovers whole aisles of cheese and decided to relish in it until casomorphin overdose?

Why must you tantalize me so.

Re: Why cats are crazy for catnip

#15

Post by dirtyid » Thu, Jan 21, 2021, 1:23 PM UTC

New cat utterly unresponsive to catnip, wonder if defective. Have never encountered a cat that didn't go cray for the nips until now. Last cat was so into it, I worried whether she experienced withdraw symptoms. Literature on that is pretty mixed though.

Re: Why cats are crazy for catnip

#16

Post by lemcoe9 » Thu, Jan 21, 2021, 1:23 PM UTC

Another opportunity for a shameless plug of my website: https://ipkitten.com

It simply serves you a random kitten GIF (some of which involve catnip) and provides your IP address alongside some other connection information.

EDIT: The ARIN JSON endpoints have rate-limited me, so ISP information is currently unavailable.

Re: Why cats are crazy for catnip

#17

Post by JoeAltmaier » Thu, Jan 21, 2021, 1:24 PM UTC

dirtyid wrote: post #15

New cat utterly unresponsive to catnip, wonder if defective. Have never encountered a cat that didn't go cray for the nips until now. Last cat was so into it, I worried whether she experienced withdraw symptoms. Literature on that is pretty mixed though.

Can't smell? Can detect food when hidden?

Re: Why cats are crazy for catnip

#18

Post by jbarberu » Thu, Jan 21, 2021, 1:37 PM UTC

malobre wrote: post #12

yokaze wrote: post #9

Most cats, that is. 50-70% do not respond to catnip.

Source ? According to https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5356310/ only around a third of cats does not respond to catnip.

My anecdata confirms this, one of my three is not a nip-head.

Re: Why cats are crazy for catnip

#19

Post by code_duck » Thu, Jan 21, 2021, 1:40 PM UTC

dirtyid wrote: post #15

New cat utterly unresponsive to catnip, wonder if defective. Have never encountered a cat that didn't go cray for the nips until now. Last cat was so into it, I worried whether she experienced withdraw symptoms. Literature on that is pretty mixed though.

Speaking to an Australian friend, I learned that 25% of cats don't respond to catnip at all - or cat mint, as they call it. Apparently the branch of the cat family in Australia are ones that don't have the catnip genes, so she had never witnessed a cat acting crazy in the characteristic cat way.

My previous cats did two different things - one would instantly flop down and roll in the catnip, then lazily lick it off her paws. The other cat would make a beeline for any catnip and intently eat all of it, shoving aside the rolling cat.

Re: Why cats are crazy for catnip

#20

Post by Cthulhu_ » Thu, Jan 21, 2021, 1:40 PM UTC

cosmodisk wrote: post #6

Not just catnip,valerian too,which is a 'top recreational drug' for cats, apparently. When we were kids,we used to give small amounts of valerian root to our cat to chew. The cat would literally tear anything apart just to get it. Then,a few minutes later,it gets high, and just keeps rolling over purring with satisfaction.

Our cats are definitely more into valerian than catnip, they dive face first into the stuff, eat it, roll around in it, etc. With catnip, no reaction.