Why cats are crazy for catnip • Hacker News Board

Re: Why cats are crazy for catnip

#121

Post by gwern » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 3:23 PM UTC

glenneroo wrote: post #118

gwern wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've compiled all of the reported catnip studies and run some large-scale surveys of my own: https://www.gwern.net/Catnip https://www.gwern.net/Catnip-survey Globally, catnip immunity rates are closer to a third, but Australia is at the extreme with about half cats not responding. Villani 2011 https://www.gwern.net/docs/catnip/2011-villani.pdf establishes that catnip response is highly heritable but polygenic ( not M…

This is quite amazing. The longer I read, the more impressed I am that you went through all the trouble. Considering the time and money spent on surveys, et al., was this ever published as a study? p.s. This is the ultimate thread-killer. Had this been posted at the very top of the thread, most of the comments and speculations posted would be irrelevant. Can @dang please pin this to the top? ;)

No, it hasn't been published anywhere. I did it because I was curious.

Re: Why cats are crazy for catnip

#122

Post by beagle3 » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 10:28 PM UTC

jrimbault wrote: post #55

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.

Olive wood too. Many cats will lick a piece of olive wood and seem to get some kind of high from it. I've seen many cats lounging under (or on top of) olive trees in the Alps around Nice (France).

Is this a specific olive specie?

I have an olive tree in my yard, about 10 cats who live in the yard and the street, and none of them ever seemed to care about the tree or the olives.

Re: Why cats are crazy for catnip

#123

Post by jrimbault » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 10:59 PM UTC

beagle3 wrote: post #122

jrimbault wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Olive wood too. Many cats will lick a piece of olive wood and seem to get some kind of high from it. I've seen many cats lounging under (or on top of) olive trees in the Alps around Nice (France).

Is this a specific olive specie? I have an olive tree in my yard, about 10 cats who live in the yard and the street, and none of them ever seemed to care about the tree or the olives.

Try cutting and sanding a (too big for their mouth) piece of wood (it's a very hard wood), in my experience that's the most "potent" form of the drug. I used to keep a piece of wood, a bit larger than a domino, for my own cat and sanded it more or less regularly.

I don't know about olive species, but I know that not all cats have that weakness.