8 ms·

Why do cats love catnip?

74 points by sgfgross 4y ago

UncleOxidant 4y ago
I would think that cats' fur would already protect them from mosquitos pretty well. They should also test on fleas - maybe repelling fleas is a bigger reason why cats do this?
- dylan604 4y ago
  How much catnip would be needed for me to receive the same benefit from rolling in it? I currently have 5 separate plants growing for my fur baby's use, but now I'm thinking I'll need more for myself
  - shagie 4y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catnip#As_an_insect_repellent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catnip#As_an_insect_repellent > Nepetalactone is a mosquito and fly repellent. Oil isolated from catnip by steam distillation is a repellent against insects, in particular mosquitoes, cockroaches, and termites. Research suggests that, while a more effective spatial repellant than DEET, when compared with SS220 or DEET, it is not so effective as a repellent as it is when used on the skin of humans. The research for the spatial repellant aspect is: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010828075659.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010828075659.h... And for the skin based one: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16119554/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16119554/
    - dylan604 4y ago
      See, there you go ruining a perfectly bad joke with science. However, I'm now inclined to get that copper/brass distiller I've always wanted. I was going to make my own essential oils, but now I'll just use it as mosquito defense for my back patio
  - bregma 4y ago
    You know it has a really strong smell, right? You're going to repel more than just mosquitoes but then again if you publicly share your life with a fur baby it may not make any difference that you might notice. Also, it might be in the mint family but it makes terrible juleps. Do not recommend.
    - msoucy 4y ago
      It sounds like there's a story to that last line and now I'm curious.
    - dylan604 4y ago
      Weed has a really strong smell too, and it is a good litmus test in that it repels uptight peeps away and attracts like minded people.
      - jspash 4y ago
        I'm not uptight - live and let live - but I absolutely cannot stand the stench. It's revolting to me. Oddly, I smoked it a bit in high school. But back then it had a much fainter, sweeter smell. Nowadays it smells like a skunk died on top of a bed of rotting cabbage sitting in the sun for 3 days. It makes me retch. But have at it if that's your thing! I'll be waaaay over there. Upwind -----------> :)
        dwighttk 4y ago
        Smells so much like burning hair I wonder if dealers cut weed with hair sometimes :D
        jrockway 4y ago
        I live across the street from a college dorm. People go outside to smoke, and sometimes the pressure in my building pulls in air from outside. It's absolutely miserable to have your house smell like weed. I'm all for legalization and everything, just ... do that somewhere that doesn't affect me. It's funny because they're obviously forced to smoke outside to increase the indoor air quality for their dorm-mates, but then it ruins mine in exchange. Oh externalities.
  - amelius 4y ago
    That would only change your mosquito problem into a cat problem ...
    - klyrs 4y ago
      Not a problem.
- pengaru 4y ago
  > I would think that cats' fur would already protect them from mosquitos pretty well. While camping in Big Basin during a really bad year for mosquitoes, my neighbor campsite had a pet Husky. Whenever they let the dog out of the tent dozens of mosquitoes would quickly converge on its face and nose. It looked like something out of a horror movie. I'd assume cats have similarly vulnerable areas on their head where the fur is thin to nonexistent. And that's an especially irritating region to have covered in itchy bites.
moffkalast 4y ago
Brb, lining my windows with catnip.
Raidion 4y ago
Have you seen cats on catnip? They're def getting a buzz. Feel like this is missing something.
- dylan604 4y ago
  Or it's just more nuanced than "why do people like weed"?
- __blockcipher__ 4y ago
  But it might be that they get a buzz as an evolutionary strategy, similar to why humans find sugar so appealing (it signifies caloric density). So the cats certainly get a high but maybe they get the high because of the insect repellent action of iridoids (per the article; I don't have any special knowledge of this).
  - BudaDude 4y ago
    That could be true. But it could be like weed where Human brains have receptors for Cannbanoids but they don't do much without the help of weed.
    - derrasterpunkt 4y ago
      There are lots of cannabinoid receptors in the body and the body produces its own cannabinoids (e.g. Anandamide). There is no need for weed – when it comes to those receptors.
      - autoexec 4y ago
        This makes me wonder about the people who seem immune to the effects of cannabis. If the problem is their receptors would that impair their ability to take advantage of Anandamide and the body's other cannabinoids as well and if so, what are the impacts?
        aaaaaaaaaaab 4y ago
dllthomas 4y ago
I think this explanation is likely correct, but some of the reasoning seems irrelevant (or only somewhat relevant?). If cats were attracted to some other component of the smell of (specifically) these plants, and engaged in the same behaviors, it would produce the same benefit. The fact that the chemical they are detecting actually is the active ingredient seems... almost coincidental? Unless cats, over their evolution, encountered a larger range of iridiod producing plants?
hunterb123 4y ago
Natural mosquito repellant and it helps with digestive problems. Our cat meows for it when his tummy hurts. They are also attracted to the smell (outside cats always find it) and it clearly gives them a buzz of sorts. The effect it gives seems to vary between cats, our cat gets calmer / drowzy / sleeps right after, but others seem to get more energetic. The cat may not realize "hey I need this for mosquitos" just that it "feels good" and it relieves later problems, so the brain subconsciously seeks it out in the future. For the plant, it benefits from the cross-pollination fuzzy faces provide. It really is like weed for cats, it helps with many ailments and once you start using it the smell attracts you to it.
- StanislavPetrov 4y ago
  >The effect it gives seems to vary between cats, our cat gets calmer / drowzy / sleeps right after, but others seem to get more energetic. The effect and also the desire. Of three cats at my home, one of them is wild for catnip and will run for the catnip before food, even when hungry. One of them will always go to the food first and then check out the catnip after. The third is entirely indifferent to catnip and will walk right past it.
exolymph 4y ago
Because it gets them high. Disclosure, I didn't click on the article, but that's their fault for the headline being dumb.
- politelemon 4y ago
  But the headline looks very straightforward and non-clickbaity, doesn't it? I didn't see why it would be considered dumb.
gumby 4y ago
Discussion from last week: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31748884 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31748884
sebastianconcpt 4y ago
I didn't knew I needed to read this :D
system16 4y ago
> Study find cats rub and roll against these plants transferring compounds known as iridoids to their fur that repels mosquitoes Interesting, but why only cats? Why don't other mammals have a similar reaction to these plants?
simonebrunozzi 4y ago
Why? Simple, it's called "cat" nip, that's why they love it! Ok, ok... Bad joke...
dominotw 4y ago
I've had three cats none of which really cared for catnip
- neuronic 4y ago
  Try a different catnip. Some catnip we bought was fully ignored while other brands were basically slammed out of our hands on sight. No clue why, maybe some outlets sell fakes or there are different kinds?
- sdflhasjd 4y ago
  Some cats respond to Valerian root instead. Also, there's definitely some potency or freshness qualities of catnip. I'd tried it with my cat and thought for years she didn't respond, but I ended up with a small sachet and she went bonkers, but I don't know what the difference was.
  - poulsbohemian 4y ago
    >Also, there's definitely some potency or freshness qualities of catnip. My cats (7 of them) looooove the dried, store-bought catnip, but have very little interest in the fresh stuff out of my garden. Thought I might try drying some of the stuff from the garden as a kind of clinical test to see if the store bought stuff is somehow different from what I'm growing.
  - gwern 4y ago
    There may not have been any. There's some evidence that catnip response is not just context-sensitive in that the same cat a few days apart might respond differently, but also that catnip insensitivity might change over the span of a few years. Like most things about catnip, any reason for this is a mystery.
- klondike_ 4y ago
  Some cats prefer fresh catnip over the dried stuff sold in stores
- Karellen 4y ago
  > about one-third of cats are not affected by catnip.[6][7][26][34] The behavior is hereditary.[35] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catnip#Effect_on_felines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catnip#Effect_on_felines
leto_ii 4y ago
I have actually noticed a similar thing going on with olives. Our cat would go crazy over them, and I don't think it had anything to do with mosquitos.
- nsxwolf 4y ago
  My cat loved to rub green olives all over himself.
  - PebblesRox 4y ago
    Growing up we had cats that loved to chase olives around the kitchen floor. They would also gnaw on decorations made of olive wood, so those had to be put away.
- fizzpack 4y ago
  Our cat goes crazy for olives. He'll slurp up the juice from a can of olvies if we look the other way.
- bigmattystyles 4y ago
  Sometimes I'm in a rush and don't shower out of the lap pool, I physically have to keep my cat away from chlorinated items. She comes up to me and will just start chewing on my chlorinated hair, it's crazy. FWIW, she couldn't care less about catnip.
  - MitchellCash 4y ago
    As a child my cat would favour drinking water from our chlorinated pool rather than her water bowl. Interesting to read another anecdote about cats and chlorine. They say curiosity killed the cat, but maybe I’ll take the gamble and see if I can find an answer as to why!
  - BLKNSLVR 4y ago
    Had the same experience many years ago when I used to swim regularly. The cat would not only love to lick and chew chlorinated hair, but also heavily snuzz my discarded towel.
WhyDoIThink 4y ago
Instead of people loving to get high on weed, it's cats loving to get high on catnip. It's the cats having a drug-like effect.

74 points by sgfgross 4y ago

I would think that cats' fur would already protect them from mosquitos pretty well. They should also test on fleas - maybe repelling fleas is a bigger reason why cats do this?

dylan604 4y ago
How much catnip would be needed for me to receive the same benefit from rolling in it? I currently have 5 separate plants growing for my fur baby's use, but now I'm thinking I'll need more for myself
- shagie 4y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catnip#As_an_insect_repellent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catnip#As_an_insect_repellent > Nepetalactone is a mosquito and fly repellent. Oil isolated from catnip by steam distillation is a repellent against insects, in particular mosquitoes, cockroaches, and termites. Research suggests that, while a more effective spatial repellant than DEET, when compared with SS220 or DEET, it is not so effective as a repellent as it is when used on the skin of humans. The research for the spatial repellant aspect is: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010828075659.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010828075659.h... And for the skin based one: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16119554/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16119554/
  - dylan604 4y ago
    See, there you go ruining a perfectly bad joke with science. However, I'm now inclined to get that copper/brass distiller I've always wanted. I was going to make my own essential oils, but now I'll just use it as mosquito defense for my back patio
- bregma 4y ago
  You know it has a really strong smell, right? You're going to repel more than just mosquitoes but then again if you publicly share your life with a fur baby it may not make any difference that you might notice. Also, it might be in the mint family but it makes terrible juleps. Do not recommend.
  - msoucy 4y ago
    It sounds like there's a story to that last line and now I'm curious.
  - dylan604 4y ago
    Weed has a really strong smell too, and it is a good litmus test in that it repels uptight peeps away and attracts like minded people.
    - jspash 4y ago
      I'm not uptight - live and let live - but I absolutely cannot stand the stench. It's revolting to me. Oddly, I smoked it a bit in high school. But back then it had a much fainter, sweeter smell. Nowadays it smells like a skunk died on top of a bed of rotting cabbage sitting in the sun for 3 days. It makes me retch. But have at it if that's your thing! I'll be waaaay over there. Upwind -----------> :)
      - dwighttk 4y ago
        Smells so much like burning hair I wonder if dealers cut weed with hair sometimes :D
      - jrockway 4y ago
        I live across the street from a college dorm. People go outside to smoke, and sometimes the pressure in my building pulls in air from outside. It's absolutely miserable to have your house smell like weed. I'm all for legalization and everything, just ... do that somewhere that doesn't affect me. It's funny because they're obviously forced to smoke outside to increase the indoor air quality for their dorm-mates, but then it ruins mine in exchange. Oh externalities.
- amelius 4y ago
  That would only change your mosquito problem into a cat problem ...
  - klyrs 4y ago
    Not a problem.
pengaru 4y ago
> I would think that cats' fur would already protect them from mosquitos pretty well. While camping in Big Basin during a really bad year for mosquitoes, my neighbor campsite had a pet Husky. Whenever they let the dog out of the tent dozens of mosquitoes would quickly converge on its face and nose. It looked like something out of a horror movie. I'd assume cats have similarly vulnerable areas on their head where the fur is thin to nonexistent. And that's an especially irritating region to have covered in itchy bites.

moffkalast 4y ago

Brb, lining my windows with catnip.

Raidion 4y ago

Have you seen cats on catnip? They're def getting a buzz. Feel like this is missing something.

dylan604 4y ago
Or it's just more nuanced than "why do people like weed"?
__blockcipher__ 4y ago
But it might be that they get a buzz as an evolutionary strategy, similar to why humans find sugar so appealing (it signifies caloric density). So the cats certainly get a high but maybe they get the high because of the insect repellent action of iridoids (per the article; I don't have any special knowledge of this).
- BudaDude 4y ago
  That could be true. But it could be like weed where Human brains have receptors for Cannbanoids but they don't do much without the help of weed.
  - derrasterpunkt 4y ago
    There are lots of cannabinoid receptors in the body and the body produces its own cannabinoids (e.g. Anandamide). There is no need for weed – when it comes to those receptors.
    - autoexec 4y ago
      This makes me wonder about the people who seem immune to the effects of cannabis. If the problem is their receptors would that impair their ability to take advantage of Anandamide and the body's other cannabinoids as well and if so, what are the impacts?
      - aaaaaaaaaaab 4y ago

dllthomas 4y ago

I think this explanation is likely correct, but some of the reasoning seems irrelevant (or only somewhat relevant?). If cats were attracted to some other component of the smell of (specifically) these plants, and engaged in the same behaviors, it would produce the same benefit. The fact that the chemical they are detecting actually is the active ingredient seems... almost coincidental? Unless cats, over their evolution, encountered a larger range of iridiod producing plants?

hunterb123 4y ago

Natural mosquito repellant and it helps with digestive problems. Our cat meows for it when his tummy hurts. They are also attracted to the smell (outside cats always find it) and it clearly gives them a buzz of sorts. The effect it gives seems to vary between cats, our cat gets calmer / drowzy / sleeps right after, but others seem to get more energetic. The cat may not realize "hey I need this for mosquitos" just that it "feels good" and it relieves later problems, so the brain subconsciously seeks it out in the future. For the plant, it benefits from the cross-pollination fuzzy faces provide. It really is like weed for cats, it helps with many ailments and once you start using it the smell attracts you to it.

StanislavPetrov 4y ago
>The effect it gives seems to vary between cats, our cat gets calmer / drowzy / sleeps right after, but others seem to get more energetic. The effect and also the desire. Of three cats at my home, one of them is wild for catnip and will run for the catnip before food, even when hungry. One of them will always go to the food first and then check out the catnip after. The third is entirely indifferent to catnip and will walk right past it.

exolymph 4y ago

Because it gets them high. Disclosure, I didn't click on the article, but that's their fault for the headline being dumb.

politelemon 4y ago
But the headline looks very straightforward and non-clickbaity, doesn't it? I didn't see why it would be considered dumb.

gumby 4y ago

Discussion from last week: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31748884 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31748884

sebastianconcpt 4y ago

I didn't knew I needed to read this :D

system16 4y ago

> Study find cats rub and roll against these plants transferring compounds known as iridoids to their fur that repels mosquitoes Interesting, but why only cats? Why don't other mammals have a similar reaction to these plants?

simonebrunozzi 4y ago

Why? Simple, it's called "cat" nip, that's why they love it! Ok, ok... Bad joke...

dominotw 4y ago

I've had three cats none of which really cared for catnip

neuronic 4y ago
Try a different catnip. Some catnip we bought was fully ignored while other brands were basically slammed out of our hands on sight. No clue why, maybe some outlets sell fakes or there are different kinds?
sdflhasjd 4y ago
Some cats respond to Valerian root instead. Also, there's definitely some potency or freshness qualities of catnip. I'd tried it with my cat and thought for years she didn't respond, but I ended up with a small sachet and she went bonkers, but I don't know what the difference was.
- poulsbohemian 4y ago
  >Also, there's definitely some potency or freshness qualities of catnip. My cats (7 of them) looooove the dried, store-bought catnip, but have very little interest in the fresh stuff out of my garden. Thought I might try drying some of the stuff from the garden as a kind of clinical test to see if the store bought stuff is somehow different from what I'm growing.
- gwern 4y ago
  There may not have been any. There's some evidence that catnip response is not just context-sensitive in that the same cat a few days apart might respond differently, but also that catnip insensitivity might change over the span of a few years. Like most things about catnip, any reason for this is a mystery.
klondike_ 4y ago
Some cats prefer fresh catnip over the dried stuff sold in stores
Karellen 4y ago
> about one-third of cats are not affected by catnip.[6][7][26][34] The behavior is hereditary.[35] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catnip#Effect_on_felines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catnip#Effect_on_felines

leto_ii 4y ago

I have actually noticed a similar thing going on with olives. Our cat would go crazy over them, and I don't think it had anything to do with mosquitos.

nsxwolf 4y ago
My cat loved to rub green olives all over himself.
- PebblesRox 4y ago
  Growing up we had cats that loved to chase olives around the kitchen floor. They would also gnaw on decorations made of olive wood, so those had to be put away.
fizzpack 4y ago
Our cat goes crazy for olives. He'll slurp up the juice from a can of olvies if we look the other way.
bigmattystyles 4y ago
Sometimes I'm in a rush and don't shower out of the lap pool, I physically have to keep my cat away from chlorinated items. She comes up to me and will just start chewing on my chlorinated hair, it's crazy. FWIW, she couldn't care less about catnip.
- MitchellCash 4y ago
  As a child my cat would favour drinking water from our chlorinated pool rather than her water bowl. Interesting to read another anecdote about cats and chlorine. They say curiosity killed the cat, but maybe I’ll take the gamble and see if I can find an answer as to why!
- BLKNSLVR 4y ago
  Had the same experience many years ago when I used to swim regularly. The cat would not only love to lick and chew chlorinated hair, but also heavily snuzz my discarded towel.

WhyDoIThink 4y ago

Instead of people loving to get high on weed, it's cats loving to get high on catnip. It's the cats having a drug-like effect.