From the fall 2010 Community Practice Service newsletter of the College of Veterinary Medicine
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| Talbott | Mickas |
Two WSU faculty will appear in a segment of the new Animal Planet TV network series “Must Love Cats,” which is scheduled to begin airing in January.
Matt Mickas, clinical assistant professor of small animal medicine and community practice, and Patricia Talcott, associate professor and board-certified toxicologist, will explain the effects of catnip on cats.
Mickas said one of the joys of owning cats is watching how fired up they can get when playing. And nothing seems to instantly stimulate a cat more than a sniff of catnip.
A chemical called nepetalactone, that catnip plants of the Nepeta family con¬tain, stimulates a cat’s sense of smell and causes a variety of reactions.
“The beneficial effects of catnip are behavioral, from calming and sedat¬ing to euphoria,” Mickas said. “That being said, cats can also get worked up by it. It can even cause reactions in big cats like lions and tigers, but I haven’t seen it personally.”
Catnip will not cause toxicity in cats that eat it, but it is possible they may experience gastrointestinal upset, such as vomiting or diarrhea.
“There really aren’t any adverse side-effects, although some cats may become more agitated or hyper-excited” Mickas said. “But its effects are temporary. It appears that within 15-30 minutes after contact, the effects are lessened.”
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| Mickas examines a patient. |
The preference for which kind, dried or fresh, as well as the reac¬tion to catnip, varies with each cat.
In fact, there is an inherited genetic component in cats so that only 50-66 percent of cats will respond to catnip at all. In addi¬tion, kittens under two months old do not respond to catnip and some may need to reach six months before they respond.
Catnip can be used as a training tool for getting cats to use a scratching post by rubbing it with leaves or catnip spray.
“I like to give my cats corrugated cardboard scratching pads with catnip in them and toys that increase their activity by caus¬ing them to want to chase the toys,” Mickas said.