Catnip and catnip: Each growth has its benefits!
When catnip acts as a dietary supplement, catnip is euphoric stimulant for your cat. These plants often confused have distinct functions and uses, but also virtuous!
How to use it for the well-being of the cat? And how do you avoid any problems and choose the right kind of weed.
Catnip and Catnip: Making a Difference
Well While the terms are often used interchangeably, it is essential to distinguish between catnip and catnip.
- Catnip is ingested by your tomcat, and offers digestive virtues, in particular it allows him to expel the hair he swallows when he grooms.
- Catnip on the contrary is not consumed for its medical virtues, but very appreciated for its euphoric properties on the cat immediately intoxicated by the smell of this plant ...
While the 1st participates in food and comfort gut your cat, the 2nd invites himself during his playing time and discovery ... Whatever they are, these plants are very good gift ideas for your 4 legged companion, since they effectively stimulate its meaning.
You could compare with the irresistiblecheese Catisfationstreat or other cat treats that educates and delights the taste buds of your little gourmand, the fresh young shoots amaze their palate. Like the heady pet laser game, euphoric plants reveal its curiosity and passion. Gourmet matou or playful feline, to each their own!
Catnip as a food supplementfood
Thissupplement looks like lawn: green stems, which grow in the earth. This plant offers many benefits to your cat.
Which shoots to choose?
In the catnip department: which seed to choose? The choice is vast: tigernuts, wheat, oats, barley or rye ... You will easily find plants in the trade to grow yourself, and the instructions for use are very simple:
- Buy a bag of seeds of your choice, in a pet store or online. Be careful to choose seeds specially intended for consumption for feline use ...
- Provide a planter or a pot, with a little soil in which to plant your seeds. Place your plantation in a sufficiently bright place near a window possibly on your terrace or on your balcony for a very green plant!
- Water regularly, without drowning the plants.
Within days, the 1st shoots appear. To provide your cat with a sufficient quantity, wait a while before offering the rods, which can reach twenty centimeters. Catnip does not require any particular maintenance apart from a little water and light. To promote long-lasting shoots, regularly remove dead stems. If you have a green thumb, you can make your plants last for weeks in a row. Once the plants have been devoured by your animal, you can grow them again: regrowth is not indefinite…
What are its beneficial effects?
The effect of catnip is mainly digestive. But this consumer product offers many other benefits ...
- Your cat, when washing, licks his coat intensively and repeatedly. This behavior naturally promotes the ingurgitation of hairs, and all the more so during the moulting period. In the stomach of your pet, the hair can form balls, not easy to digest ... Rich in vitamins and fibers, plants help him to eliminate his hairballs. The purging effect is manifested either by regurgitation of the hairballs or by evacuation via the stool. His intestinal transit, however, is considerably improved!
- For an apartment tomcat, confined indoors without any vegetation, plants are a much appreciated illusion of greenery! The outdoor feline that spends its nights hunting in your garden, on the contrary, will probably not need you to buy digestive plants for it. It is found in nature in plants with the same digestive properties.
- This food supplement is also a very good gift idea for a greedy cat! Green shoots whet his appetite, and he takes pleasure in savoring them without moderation.
- Does your 4-legged friend disdain his new cat tree? Install on a platform at the top a small container overhung with green sprigs, which will attract it. A good way to encourage him to move, to exert himself and to be better in his head and in his body!
- Another major advantage of this versatile food supplement: this edible product distracts attention from your carefully cultivated plants and flowers. Your cat will thus stop damaging your plantations that you cherish so much!
Beyond this practicality, this element of distraction can also prevent your pet from consuming poisonous or even deadly green plants. In large quantities, rhododendron or even thrush can expose it to health risks. Be vigilant…
Are there any contraindications?
Is it a good idea to offer catnip to your kitten? Yes, as long as your kitten does not mistake the pot for its new litter! Apart from this moderate risk, no contraindication: felines can ingest this product at any age.
You can leave your planter at your disposal: your cat feast on itself, and can enjoy a green plant without moderation.
Grass as a euphoric stimulant
In the vegetable department for felines,is of a completely different kind, as are catnipolives for cats. It is not intended for consumption, nor used for digestive virtues. In its most common form, it is known ascatnip orchataire,or mint tocats.Make no mistake when purchasing the gift for your pet!
Which plants to favor?
Different plant species are used for the same purpose, as a euphoric stimulant.
- Species from the Lamiaceae family: catnip and catnip are the most common forms in your pet store.
- Germander of cats: it contains a molecule with euphoric effects for felines.
- Matabi or "Japanese Kiwi": its molecule attracts and excites the tomcat.
- Valerian: very aromatic, it arouses an even stronger frenzy.
Not all pets are equally receptive, depending on the plants available to them. You can start by trying the most common catnip on the market then you turn to other products if the1st test is not conclusive.
How and why to use it?
Is your pet lazy all day long? Does your demanding cat sulk all the gifts you buy for him? Treat him to a catnip scented toy to stimulate your little feline's hunting instincts while ensuring a useful purchase!
Unlike plants to be ingested, this specific product cannot be consumed: its intoxicating virtues are diffused by the smell. The tomcat sniffs the scent of the product then approaches to sniff this attractive scent. The effect then seems similar to that of a drug: your feline frantically crushes the strands, rolls on the ground, licks himself, shakes his head, rubs against your legs or against the furniture, purrs ... His well-being is at its peak !
- Use catnip for its relaxing properties. These plants are ideal for reassuring your cat in a new environment, soothing it in case of chronic anxiety or calming it during a stressful trip…
- Use this product as a stimulant. To entice your lazy tomcat to wiggle off your couch, spray his toys with this heady scent. Nothing better to give him back his taste for the game!
Catnip is easily found in stores. You can buy it in several forms:
- A spray based on concentrated extract to spray your toys. Mechanical mouse, feather duster, stuffed bird ... does your pet disdain his gifts? Spray the object lightly with the spray. Your newborn hunter will be drawn to the scent and then immediately aroused. You treat yourself to the peace and well-being of your cat!
- Seedlings in a ready-to-use kit to germinate yourself. You can grow your catnip at home. Once the strands are sufficiently tall and fragrant, your 4-legged companion will approach them to roll around or rest in a relaxing environment. If you choose this form of plant, do not hesitate to transform it after the sprigs have grown. Dry then top with this dry catnip your homemade plush toys!
- Chew sticks or chew balls. As your cat is scratching its scratching post, it sharpens its teeth on a stick or a catnip-based ball. Perfect for letting off steam elsewhere than on your furniture and home textiles!
- Toys filled with euphoric weed. You will also find on the market many cat toys filled with catnip or other plant with exciting properties.
What are the precautions for use?
Catnip is a natural product that is safe for your pet. You can therefore leave it available without risk to its health.
For good use
- Reserve the intoxicating toys for your cat's solo play moments, when you are not available to him.
- Offer him this euphoric product as a reward, or on special occasions, to preserve an exceptional character and not to get used to it.
- It is the smell of catnip that offers exciting virtues. To preserve its benefits over time, keep your product dry and sheltered in an airtight bag, for example. If you are using a spray, close the bottle tightly after use so that the product does not run out.
