Herb of the Week for 30th January
Catnip Crazy by Lynn Kirkland
During the holidays I had popped a rooted plant of catnip in a pot ready
to take down to a friends' garden in Wellington.
We had already planted some catnip in this garden and their cat Stormy had
loved it and invited a friend over to try it too.
Needless to say it was in dire need to be left alone for a while to get
growing again.
The plan was to plant another one to hopefully satisfy the feline fancies
of this neighbourhood.
So I left the pot on the porch so I wouldn't forget to take it. Along came
our boy cat Sammo and thought that it was all for him.
Sammo proceeded to chew a few leaves while nearly pulling it out of the
pot.
A new addition to our cat family is young Leo and he sat on the porch watching
with interest as Sammo attacked the herb with great gusto.
I gave Leo a leaf to see if the scent would tickle his fancy but he wasn't
interested at all.
He enjoyed the entertainment but wasn't keen to try the herbal high that
Sammo was demonstrating.
Maybe his mother had told him never to take substances that might have an
affect on him!
So while it does seem that in general the males of the cat species enjoy
catnip it is not always the case.
Our little female cat has in the past enjoyed rubbing herself on the leaves
but this day was nowhere to be seen while this lesson in herbs for cats
was going on.
It is always interesting that if we make tea of catnip it will help us sleep
and can be used for babies with colic and yet in the world of cats it has
a stimulating effect.
One of the curiosities of nature.