A cat on catnip is not being random. The sequence is short, repeatable, and mostly about smell.
Nepetalactone, the oil in Nepeta cataria, binds to receptors in the nose, which send a signal to the amygdala and the hypothalamus. For about two in three cats that is enough to start a ten-minute run of rubbing, rolling, grabbing, and then a stretch of calm. The other third smell nothing of interest, and that is genetic rather than a quality problem with the herb.
Sniffing and eating do different jobs
The route of exposure changes the result, and this is the part most people miss.
Smelling it is the stimulant. The cat presses its face into the source, rolls, vocalises, sometimes sprints. That is the version in the videos.
Eating a little tends to skip the excited phase and go closer to sleepy. The same plant, a different entry point. A cat that licks and chews a toy is often on its way to the mellow stretch rather than winding itself up.
Neither is a problem. Both wear off on the same clock.
What the excited phase actually looks like
Not every responder does all of these. Most do two or three.
- Cheek and chin rubbing against the source, to pick up more of the oil
- Rolling onto the back or side
- Purring, meowing, or a low growl that is not a warning
- A burst of sprinting
- Grabbing a toy and kicking it with the back legs
That last one is the behaviour worth designing around. The plant gets the cat interested. The object has to be something they can hold and finish a hunt with, or the session ends in frustration rather than a nap.
If you are using a toy for this, quantity and freshness matter more than the shape of the mouse. Most mass-produced catnip toys hold under 5g of herb and go quiet within a fortnight. A fill of 30g, kept sealed between sessions, is a different product.
That is why Le Croissant carries at least 30g of organic catnip buds with Silver Vine fruit, inside reinforced OEKO-TEX cotton. Smell starts the session. The crescent is there so the cat can grab it and kick.
Then they go quiet
Once the receptors have had enough, the cat drops into a mellow stretch: slower, heavier, often ready to sleep. This is why people ask whether catnip calms cats. It can, but only after the peak, and only if you do not need them calm in the next five minutes.
Time it. A play session that starts 20 minutes before guests arrive, and ends with a meal, is using the sequence properly. Waving the toy as the doorbell rings is using it backwards.
How long it lasts
Ten to fifteen minutes for the reaction. Then a refractory period of 30 minutes to two hours, during which the freshest catnip in the world produces nothing.
This is the main reason a toy left on the rug looks as if it has "stopped working" by the afternoon. Sometimes the oils really have evaporated. Quite often the cat is just in the window where it cannot respond, and the same toy will work in the morning.
Why some cats ignore it
Around one cat in three has no response to nepetalactone at all. The trait is inherited. Age, breed, and how expensive the toy was do not come into it.
Two other groups look like non-responders and are not:
- Kittens under about three to six months. The sensitivity usually has not switched on yet. Try again later.
- Cats smelling spent herb. Brown, hay-like catnip, or a toy that has sat in a warm room for weeks, will produce a false negative.
If a grown cat has ignored fresh catnip more than once, they are a non-responder. Silver Vine is the next plant to try. It works through different compounds, mainly nepetalactol and actinidine, and a 2017 study found that about 75% of cats that ignore catnip do respond to it.
A toy carrying both herbs removes the guesswork. You do not need to know which side of the genetic line your cat sits on before you buy one.