Need Help - Catnip experiment

[doublemom2]

My girls are doing a cat project for this year's science fair. They are going to compare cat's reactions to catnip, chamomile, and hopefully a few other herbs to see if they react differently.

We though of this because I dropped a dry chamomile teabag on the floor once and Jet went crazy with it, just like he does with catnip.

So here's the question...
Has anyone noticed "catnip" reactions in their cats with other herbs besides catnip? We'd like to test 3-5 different herbs, but so far have only come up with catnip and chamomile. Any other ideas we could try?

We've figured out 11 cats that we're going to try this on, our three and the rest belonging to neighbors and friends. If we came up with a procedure, would anyone be interested in trying it out on their cats and posting the results to be included in the project?

Thanks so much!

Andi

[Lionitus]

Hi Andi,
My cat Nick goes crazy for thyme, Mother of Thyme to be specific. He goes out in the garden and rolls on the plant and then falls asleep on it.

I have heard that some store bought catnips are cut with dried thyme.

Hope this helps and good luck with the project. I think it's really a cool idea.

Lion

[Garden_of_Mu]

Try catmint as well (nepeta?). Ours used to sit by the bush sniffing it, but didn't go nutty like they do on catnip.

Another mint, maybe peppermint or spearmint, might be a good control as well. It's a strong smelling herb related to catnip, but not too closely.

[JaneG]

Yes, other mints will do the trick. My outdoor cat will find wild growing mints and get all goofy and roll around in them.

[Spider]

The barn cats would get all nutty on the hay bales, mostly the grass hays but sometimes on the alfalfa.