How Plants Make Cats Happy

Abstract

Catnip—this plant seems to make a lot of cats very happy. But did you know that not all cats like catnip? We wondered if there were other plants that have the same effect on cats that catnip has. Is it possible that some cats who do not like catnip might enjoy those other plants? We let many cats sniff catnip and several other plants to see which plants cats like. It turns out there is hope for cats who do not like catnip but still want to have a good time. But how do these plants make cats so happy? We knew that a chemical compound in catnip called nepetalactone is responsible for the effect catnip has on cats, but we found many more compounds that can do the same! Do cats respond the same way to all these plants and compounds? Read the article to find out.