"Catnip" cats vs "Valerian" cats

I read somewhere that cats have a gene determining their reaction to Catnip. Some cats don't have this gene, hence they don't care about Catnip. I discovered that my cats do not have a "Catnip" gene, since none of the toys infused with Catnip attracted them.
When they were kittens, I tried to give them dry Valerian, but they ignored it as well.
Just recently when I used Valerian capsules as a sleeping aid, I noticed that my kitties became very excited about the smell. Few moments later they licked my fingers covered with dry Valerian and rolled over the carpet in ecstasy. Anastasia seemed to react to Valerian more than Ariella, which make me think she may be homozygous for this gene.
My understanding that most American cats are "Catnip sniffers" and most European cats react to Valerian. Since my kitties have ancestors from England, they have Valerian gene.
I want to hear the opinion of European and American Maincoon (and non-Maincoon) parents.

MC Elvis likes his 'nip.

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it, but he jumps from the floor
to the top of the refrigerator in one leap to get to the catnip jug, knocks it
off onto the floor and bats it around till I open it for him, then he eats a few
bites of it and goes to sleep...

I keep the cat toys in a box and dust them with it occasionally.

Keeps them interesting to the furballs.

I'm going to plant some when the weather warms up a bit. Last time I did
I got a gallon size ziplock bagfull of dried from one of the PetSmart starter plants.

Darcy loves Valerian, Gabriel is just now 6 months old and starting to react to it

Never mind catnip, my lads have just gone crazy for Twinings Peppermint Tea teabags. Monty knocked the box onto the floor and started rolling around it drooling. Maybe I should start adding the contents to their toy mice. They have expensive tastes, dammit!

^^^^^

I'm pretty sure catnip is a mint...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by elismom

How old was Elvis when he started responding to catnip?

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Around 9 or 10 months, I think. Maybe a bit later.

He likes it, but it seems to put him to sleep pretty quickly if he eats it.

He likes it on his toys too, but he plays with those when he feels like it whether or not there's any fresh catnip on them.

Coco the Calico is the one that has the most fun with it.

[QUOTE=claudel;12793]^^^^^

I'm pretty sure catnip is a mint...


Yes you are right it is a type of mint,we grew some once & in his wisdom hubby put it in a pot at the front of the house,we had neighbours phoning us & saying that we had cats behaving very funny outside our front door & they were worried that they had been poisoned,we went out to one rolling in the pot on the catnip & others had broken bits off & were rolling around the lawn on top of it,needless to say nip went to the tip......
Mine have all loved it from about 6 to 7 mths of age daughters cat was nearly a year,hadn't bothered about it up at her own house but while staying with me I came back from work & thought she had had a fit,she was soaking wet,drooling & spaced out,was very pleased to find a soaking wet catnip mouse.
Valerium is another thing altogether,we were at a cat show & people nearby had cat toys with it in,not only did I end up with a thumping headache,still do at just a whiff of the stuff,but Shimba completely freaked out,he reacted the same as he did to the feliway,good thing he had already been judged otherwise he would have had to be withdrawn,it was touch & go if we were even going to be able to get him into his carrier without being bitten so obviously wouldn't risk it in the house.
Isn't it very interesting how the effect of these type of things differ from animal to animal,not always for the best either....!

Schrodo is responsive to catnip and from what i remember it came on around his 7 month mark. We noticed this as the toys he played with just got the pounce and bite treatment where as now the feathers are soaking wet from him licking them and the other toys get pounced and licked are generally quite soggy.

Additionally we got him a little catnip felt tree which states it has "real" catnip inside it... well it must be true as he goes OFF THE SCALE when we get this out, its like he goes into over drive. Running for it, back flips, rolls over, licks, sucks, bites, cycle kicks, drooling :drool1:, the lot, honestly the first time we seen this reaction we were like "is this normal?" and considered taking it off him.

When we we do take it off him or he bats it under the sofa he'll normally have a snooze for an hour or two but when he wakes up he'll be wandering around sniffing and trying to locate it - which we soon learned that putting it on the wall mounted bookcases was not a safe option!!

We've not tried the Valerian root yet so i cant comment on that.

Our kittens aren't worried about catnip at all (they are 10 weeks old) and yet their mum, Star, goes potty for it. We bought some catnip kitten toys and Star cuddles them, washes them, rubs herself all over them and is literally in heaven when she is near them!!!

She's the only one of ours that seems affected by the scent though - the others play with the toys but don't go all gooey like she does.

I haven't tried valerian but my friend had some and one of her cats managed to tip a bottle all over herself - she was very popular in the rest of the household!!

[QUOTE= haven't tried valerian but my friend had some and one of her cats managed to tip a bottle all over herself - she was very popular in the rest of the household!![/QUOTE]

Oh dear I can just imagine that......!
To me it smells like cat s**t,nothing nice about it at all,did the poor cat have to keep to her own company for the rest of the day ?

I've never smelt it!!

Cat had to have a bath but still couldn't get all the stuff out....and she's a Siberian so you know how big their coats are...

Oh I believe it about the smell hanging on in the coat & being a siberian as you say a lot to cling onto,don't worry if you haven't smelt it but if ever a whiff comes your way you will certainly know why your friends cat was unpopular.
There is one other "aroma"that I nearly put on par with it,apologies to the gentleman on the forum,but it is Brute.That seems to cling & overpower as well & reminds me of my brother,he was in the navy & whenever he came home on leave dad used to complain that bruv used all his shower gel,every evening he would go for a shower before heading to the local,hubby had been given a Brute gift set which he had no intentions of using so I rescued one of dads empty shower containers & filled it with the Brute,sure enough brother had a shower,then we heard the shower go again,finally he came down to say goodbye & with his head held high & not a word said went out with the smell of Brute still wafting in the air behind him.Dads shower gel was safe from that day on.
Digressed really haven't I,bet everyone is going to be wanting to get a smell of valerian now to compare....!

Mine all love cat nip, I refresh their toys every week with a spray but I find the coonie drool and roll over the toys for about half an hour then that it over with. The abyssinians and Brits just carry on for ever and ever and come back for more..

I made the mistake of once putting cat nip drops in to one of my oil burners instead of the scented ones... I had a load of cats wandering around the house drooling and crooning... mass orgy!! lol