If you’re a cat owner, having a small bag of green powder in your home means something very different from what most people would think!
It’s that magical dust that turns domestic felines into wild jungle cats as soon as they get a whiff of it, and melts them into a motionless puddle of fluff if they lick it up. Enter the wondrous world of catnip, and the kitties who can’t get enough of it.
The name ‘catnip’ is derived from nepeta cataria, an herb closely related to mint. The plant, whether freshly grown or dried for commercial purposes, secretes a chemical compound called nepetalactone that triggers a response from cats’ pheromone receptors – in other words, it makes them lose their minds when they smell it.
When the plant is ingested, it produces the opposite effect by sedating the cat. Each feline reacts differently to the magical herb, with some showing outright immunity to its powers. Others, however…
Check out this list of cats, compiled by Bored Panda, who went on a serious ‘nip trip’ and have never looked back!
1. Kitteh’s 1st time on the nip
2. Look who found the catnip while I was out
3. My cat Felix, high off his ass on catnip!
4. Our cat gets high on catnip, then sits on the couch and watches Family Guy like this for hours. I walked in on her looking like this!
5. Catnip Catnap !
6. I put some catnip in the food dehydrator and came home to find this…
7. Catnip + Catpole = Awkward family situation (mother & son)
8. My cat enjoying some catnip in the sun – he was seriously sleeping like this!
9. The cat that found the stash…
10. Chewy the cat found where the catnip was being grown, he’s as high as heck!
11. Every time I get the catnip out…
12. Cat tree came with catnip, he found the catnip first!
13. My cat makes the weirdest faces on catnip…
14. Here’s my cat refusing to let go of her catnip bottle…
15. My cat is either really happy – or really high on catnip
Related story: Lost Cat Found Rolling Around in Catnip Toys
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