Cats got into catnip

This morning I found my cats eating some catnip they got into, I'm not sure how much they ate before I picked it up. Is it bad for them to eat it?

No, they will be fine. Fine and happy. Just the other night Beeba must have found my bag and I found it in the morning ripped apart. The feral cats used to trample my catnip that I grew outside. It was so beautiful too!

I once read that when dried and the cats rubs themselves on it..it's a stimulent but if they eat it, it's a sedative? I know when humans drink it or eat it, it can be a sedative. Thoughts?

Catnip is not harmful at all for cats to ingest. I have actually heard that it can help with their digestive system. We give catnip regularly and ours always eat it. It is good for them and makes them happy!

Originally Posted by farleyv

No, they will be fine. Fine and happy. Just the other night Beeba must have found my bag and I found it in the morning ripped apart. The feral cats used to trample my catnip that I grew outside. It was so beautiful too!

Click to expand...

My cats love their cat nip bushes and make forts in them when I take them out in the summer.

Catnip forts so cute!!!

We let our eat dried catnip as well. There have been several times Enzo has gotten into the cabinet and tore up the bag for everyone to eat. They don't eat all that much of it. I think they get too crazy and then crash before they can eat more!

Speaking of catnip, I have a funny story to tell. My beloved Uncle Jeff, whom we lost to ALS 2 1/2 years ago, had a cat named Jill. (Jill is still with the family, she nursed him and took care of him all through his illness)

A few years ago I had a bumper crop of cat nip. The stuff was hardy and strong. Very potent and cat attracting! Every cat that had some went crazy over it. I harvested it all of it and made cat nip toys and sent them to all my cat friends.

Including Jill. The day the package got there, my cousin got the mail, and tossed it on the dining room table. She went out again. Later my Uncle Jeff come home to an incredible mess. Jill had smelled the cat nip toy from the floor, jumped up on the table, and tore apart the packaging to get to it, leaving a trail of evidence through the house.

I had wrapped the toy in tissue, then put it in a zip lock baggie, before putting it in one of those cheap mailers that has some sort of weird recycled paper stuff for padding. It went everywhere, hehe.

My Uncle was mystified especially as Jill in not in the habit of jumping on the table. He finally found my note I'd included in the package. He was astonished that Jill smelled the cat nip and took such initiative.

I've never been able to repeat that crop though. It cross bred with other mint growing wild near by, and I'm still having trouble growing that out. It's not as potent, once it crosses.

Cute story about Jill. I bet your Uncle Jeff would have love it!

Originally Posted by farleyv

Cute story about Jill. I bet your Uncle Jeff would have love it!

Click to expand...

Thank you! But Uncle Jeff was still with us at the time, he did get to enjoy the fun. It was a few years ago, he wasn't even sick yet, then <sigh>

Jill the cat, was also listed under my Uncle Jeff's survivors as his loved special companion.

How are the kitties doing? You never mentioned what form the catnip was in - was it in a baggy? That would be the bigger concern than the catnip itself (which is completely safe).

I've had a couple of mine find a baggy of catnip that I had hidden on my desk. They had chewed it open but thankfully the plastic was a firmer type that didn't chew off into small pieces easily - and all of it was accounted for.

Originally Posted by otto

I've never been able to repeat that crop though. It cross bred with other mint growing wild near by, and I'm still having trouble growing that out. It's not as potent, once it crosses.

Click to expand...

I think that's what happened to my mint. The cats still enjoy the catnip but I've noticed that the mint growing nearby now has a musky scent...