Dried catnip and catnip spray are not two versions of the same product. One is a fill. The other is a surface treatment. Mixing them up is how people end up with a dusty carpet, or a scratcher that smelled of something for an afternoon.
Nepetalactone, the oil that about two in three cats respond to, evaporates. That is true of both formats. The difference is where the oil sits, how much of it you get, and what job you are actually trying to do.
Dried herb, when you want the cat to grab something
Dried leaf and flower is the right choice for anything the cat will hold, kick, or eat a little of.
- Inside a toy. This is the only format that keeps working over months, and only if there is enough of it. Under 5g, padded with synthetic wadding, is the usual mass-market fill, and those toys are quiet within a fortnight. 30g or more, in a fabric that can hold oil, is a different object.
- Loose, in tiny amounts. Some cats like to eat a pinch, which tends to make them sleepy rather than hyper. A pinch. A bowl of it is how you get vomit.
- Rubbed into cardboard. Corrugated scratchers hold dried particles in the ridges. Smooth wood and plastic do not.
Quality is obvious if you know what to look for. Bright green, a sharp minty smell. Brown and hay-like is spent. "Catnip" with no mention of leaf or flower is often stem and dust.
Cotton takes the oil up. Polyester does not, which is one reason a cheap plush mouse never quite smells of anything even when it is new.
Spray, when you do not want debris
Spray is distilled oil in water or alcohol. It belongs on things you cannot open and do not want covered in leaf.
- Scratching posts. A light mist on the post, not the carpet around it, is the standard way to make a new post more interesting than the sofa.
- Carriers and beds. A little on a blanket, then let it dry, can make a new object smell familiar. Do this well before you need the cat in the carrier, not as the taxi arrives.
- Toys you cannot refill. A surface top-up on a closed toy. It will fade faster than a proper fill, because it is sitting on the outside.
Spray will not turn a 2g toy into a 30g toy. It puts a film of oil on the fabric. That is useful. It is not the same as restocking the inside.
How to keep a stuffed toy alive
The oils leave when they meet air, heat, and light. A toy on the living-room floor in summer is the worst case. A toy in a jar in a cupboard is the best.
- Put it away after the session. An airtight glass jar, or a heavy zip bag. This is the single largest factor in how long the smell lasts.
- Do not leave five herb toys out at once. The cat habituates, and the oils waste themselves on an empty room.
- Roll it before you offer it. Thirty seconds between your palms bruises the herb inside and brings a fresh lot of oil to the surface.
If a toy has gone quiet, smell it yourself. Sharp and minty means the cat is probably in a refractory period, or bored of that particular object. Hay or nothing means the oils are gone.
The jar method is the best revival short of refilling: put the toy in a sealed jar with a tablespoon or two of good dried catnip for a few days. Cotton absorbs this well.
Washing
Hand wash in warm water with unscented soap, squeeze rather than wring, press in a towel, air dry away from heat. Then re-scent, because a wash strips the surface oils. The jar method after drying, or a light spray once the toy is bone dry.
Skip the machine, the tumble dryer, fabric softener, and bleach. The first two wreck the seams and the herb. The last two leave a smell that covers whatever you put back.
How often to offer it
Two or three times a week is plenty. After a reaction the cat cannot respond again for 30 minutes to two hours, so a second session an hour later is a waste of oil.
If the cat has never reacted to catnip, spraying more of it will not help. About one in three cats cannot respond to nepetalactone at all. Silver Vine is the plant that reaches most of those, and a toy that holds both herbs avoids the whole question.
That quantity-and-blend problem is why we fill Le Croissant with at least 30g of organic catnip buds and Silver Vine fruit, in reinforced OEKO-TEX cotton that can be washed and put back in a jar. Spray is still the right tool for a scratching post. It is a poor substitute for a toy that was under-filled to begin with.
If a toy that still smells of something is being ignored, the herb is not the problem.