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Cat Forum / Health and Behavior / October 2005

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Can catnip cause urinating?

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Steve84 - 25 Oct 2005 05:39 GMT
I have 2 cats.  They are brother and sister and about 15 1/2 years old.  
The male has been diabetic for about  8 years and other then being fat
is doing pretty good.  I give him two shots a day.

The female has shown very early signs of kidney disease but nothing bad
yet.  Here is the problem.  About a year ago for the first time in her
life she urinated on the carpet in the family room.  I had her checked
out and she had a urinary tract infection.  I gave her meds and it
cleared up.  A few months later she urinated on the carpet a few more
times.  I had her checked out and she was fine.  A month or so ago it
started happening frequently.  I had the vet check her out and I even
shelled out $275 for an ultra sound.  The blood tests all came back fine
and the ultra sound looked ok too.  Its been about 3 weeks since she was
at the vet and she hasn't had an accident since then.

There have been no stressful changes in her life.  She has lived in same
house with her brother for 8 years.  I keep the litter box clean at all
times and added a second litter box too.  I have been racking my brain
trying to think of anything that might be causing her to go outside the
litter box.  She always uses the litter box to move her bowels.  She
only has "accidents" urinating

A year or two ago somebody gave me two soft pads that the cats could lay
on.  Those mats had catnip in them and Betty my female at kept urinating
on them and I eventually took them off the floor so they couldn't use
them anymore.  I have always left a few toys on the floor in the family
room that are soft and when they were bought had catnip in them.  I have
had those toys literally for years but my male cat Barney likes using
them as a pillow so I never threw them away.

I started wondering if there was a link between Bettys urinating on the
carpet and the catnip smell in the toys even though the catnip shouldn't
even exist anymore after all these years.  I decided to pick up all the
toys and left nothing on the carpet in that room.  She has not urinated
on the carpet in the three weeks since I picked up those very old toys.

The bottom line is has anybody every heard of catnip in anyway causing
cats to urinate where they usually do not?  I hope this all makes sense

Thanks

Steve

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No More  Retail - 25 Oct 2005 06:00 GMT
Yes the smell of catnip will always be on the toys unless you chemical
bleach them.  And I heard of catnip causing a cat to urinate catnip  here is
how to think of a cat they are each unique just like humans  they will all
react differently
I grow my own  catnip it grows like a weed ought to see cats with fresh
catnip

Archive-name: cats-faq/misc
URL: http://www.fanciers.com/cat-faqs/misc.html
Last-modified: 13 Aug 1999

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  Originally written 1991 & updated through 1997 by Cindy Tittle Moore.
  Maintained by the Fanciers website as of July 1999.
    _________________________________________________________________
Catnip and Valerian.

  Catnip is a plant that causes various reactions in cats. Very young
  cats and kittens will not be affected by catnip. About 20% of cats are
  never affected by catnip. It is not known why or how catnip has the
  effect it does on the rest of the cat population. It is a
  non-addictive "recreational drug" for cats with no known harm to the
  cat. There was an article in Science [exact reference?] on the
  neurological effects of catnip on cats. It seems to stimulate the same
  pleasure centers in the feline brain that orgasm does. Most cats
  "mellow out" and become sleepy and happy, others start acting very
  kittenish. A small percentage will become possessive of their catnip
  and may snap or hiss at you.

  You can find wild catnip plants in most weedy areas, and harvest the
  seed. Or you can buy seed from companies like Burpees or Parks or
  Northrup King -- most garden centers have catnip seed this time of
  year -- check the "herb" section. Or even seed racks in the grocery
  and discount stores.

  Catnip is easy to grow. You will need to keep the plant itself out of
  the reach of the cats as catnip-lovers will quickly destroy it. The
  best strategy is to get some growing, and then pinch and prune it
  regularly and give the harvested leaves to your cat. Keep it in its
  own pot, as it will spread rapidly. Cats will tend to dig up
  transplanted catnip and eat it roots and all, but are much gentler on
  plants started from seed. The leaves have to be bruised to release the
  odor, and transplanting seems to be enough bruising...

  Nepeta cataria is the common catnip; other Nepeta species have varying
  amounts of "active ingredient". A good one is Nepeta mussini, a
  miniature-leaved catnip that makes a good rockgarden plant. Nepeta is
  a genus of the Lamiaceae (=Labiatae), the mint family. There are about
  250 species of catnip, plus a bunch of hybrids between species. Only
  about 10 are available in this country, though.

  You can order seeds from Burpee (215-674-9633)
  Nepeta cataria B61424 $1.25; N. mussinii B38828 $1.45

  Valerian root is an herb with effects very similar to catnip and
  generally makes cats a bit nuts. It is however not as readily
  available as catnip and perhaps a bit more potent than catnip.

  Catnip and Valerian both act as sedatives on humans.
    _________________________________________________________________

Steve84 - 25 Oct 2005 16:04 GMT
What does this mean?

"And I heard of catnip causing a cat to urinate catnip"

No More Retail wrote:

>Yes the smell of catnip will always be on the toys unless you chemical
>bleach them.  And I heard of catnip causing a cat to urinate catnip  here is
[quoted text clipped - 75 lines]
>
>  

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No More  Retail - 25 Oct 2005 17:41 GMT
Sorry did not check my post before I sent it   should have been the start of
another sentence
 
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