catnip

I've been trying to grow catnip, from a pre-seeded pot, with so-so results (I'm not a plant person). Today, we found potted catnip plants, at PetsMart. I put it on the table, when we got home and Opie discovered it, right away. He started by sniffing it and progressed to rubbing his face in it. He wound up, rolling around on the table, waving his paws in the air, totally blissed (blitzed) out! We are going to have to repot, into a heavier container, though. Opie turned that little plastic pot over.

I haven't tried the already grown stuff but I've bought the cat grass at petsmart that comes in the little white plastic tray. After the week has passed and the grass has grown 6 inches I leave it out on the picture window sill and my guys go crazy. It's so funny watching them fight over who gets to chew on it next.:tounge2:

I checked out the cat grass but, with my not-so-hot results with the preseeded catnip, decided to pass on it. These little pots of catnip plants were at the checkout, kind of like the candy in the grocery store! Bill does well with plants so, I'm leaving this to him. He has all kinds of stuff: cacti, onions and other plants that look pretty good. :flower:

Do cats really go crazy over the catnip grass? Does it grow in dirt like other plants? I am thinking about getting some for my furbabies.

Catnip is an herb and grows in pots, planter boxes and gardens. I haven't been able to find seeds. Maybe, a catalog, like Burpee's has them. I bought the preseeded pot at Walgreen's but, I'm not good with plants. We just happened to find pots of it, at PetsMart. Bill is going to repot it and get enough plants, for a box. Some cats do not respond to catnip and cats under 1 year old do not. Some get crazy and some just get mellow. Kind of like people with marijuana. Opie gets both ways. I'll keep you posted, about the growth and responses. Let me know how anyone else is doing with it.

Opie has been at the catnip, this afternoon. He has alternated between mellow and wired. He has ripped and run all through the house. I smoke out on the patio. Opie has been sitting in the window, of our Arizona room, clawing at the glass, meowing and rolling around on my desk. Every so often, he sprawls out, on the desk or floor and rolls around, waving his paws. He tried a jackrabbit start, from the kitchen but can't get traction, on the vinyl floor. It is so funny, to see all four feet going ninety miles an hour and the cat not moving! Bill is threatening to put Opie in rehab. We've had the catnip, just since Saturday but it has provided no end of entertainment, for all three of us. Opie's stoned and happy, we're amused. Pretty good deal, for $3.99.

If you plant it outside during the "growing" season, it takes off like a weed. It will even over run a garden if you let it. We snip peices off and bring it into the house. We also use some of it to dry and we have fresh catnip

I found a seed catalog, on line and ordered some. From here on out, its Bill's project. All that I've, ever, been able to raise, successfully, are kids and cats!

We also grow it in the garden. You don't have do do anything other then plant it and it basicly grows on it's own - it is like a weed. The babies love it fresh, but they also love it when we dry it. I bring in little baggies of it to work for fellow cat owners & it makes me look like a drug dealer passing out baggies of the green stuff. LOL.

Hi. I had a neighbor who planted catnip in her yard. My cat at the time Gizmo, went over to her yard and sat on the plant when it was still small, and literally smothered it. I guess cat nip can cause cats to do some pretty interesting actions... Now I have two cats with catnip toys, and they are constantly playing with the 'catnipped' toys. Guess most cats like Catnip, huh?
Anne

My kitties are almost 7 months old and sometimes they react to the catnip and sometimes the don't. Is it because cats don't really react to it until they are a year old?

To cats, the scent of catnip is similar to that of a female in heat. Therefore, mature cats, especially toms, are more susceptible to it.:flower:

I had never used cat nip until ThreeLeggedKat (miss you!) sent my boys some homemade catnip mice for Xmas.

Squirt went ballistic over it. This week I bought some of the spray so he would go on the new cat tree I bought. Worked like a charm.

All I can say is that I wish I had something like it that would make my kids at school work.

Has anyone tried the cat nip pellets? I've seen them in the Drs Foster and Smith catalog and was wondering if they're more potent(as it says) than the flakes?

Opie was sooo funny, last night. He got into the catnip, burying his face in the plant and rubbing his head all over it. Good thing that its a hardy plant. Opie mauled it, pretty badly. He rolled around, on my desk, knocking things off, wrapped his body around the catnip pot and chewed on some books. He, then, sat up and looked around, rather bleary-eyed. After a few minutes of staggering around, he went back at the catnip. So that we could all get some sleep, I put the pot outside. Opie, still, looks kind of stoned, this morning. He's barely moved from the spot that he went to sleep in, last night. Bill is now calling him "Junkie".

Catnip is a member of the mint family. It will choke out other plants in the garden, just like mint.

Someone told me, plant it in a pot then plant the pot in the garden. The idea is that the roots are contained and it doesn't spread. Of course, you still have to deal with seeds.