Natural High: Animals that Use Drugs in the Wild

Cats and Catnip

Not all drugs are effective on every species. Opium, cigarettes, and alcohol are all addictions humans can understand. For us, Catnip, Nepeta cataria, is a fairly dull and innocuous plant. For cats, however.... Cats under the influence of catnip will act like females in heat. Oddly, both sexes of cat will exhibit the same response. Cats will rub themselves on the plant, roll on the ground, meow loudly, and produce beards of saliva. They also develop the large pupils of a stoned teenager. After about ten minutes, they have had their fill of catnip and become desensitized to it for the next half hour. But they will readily come back for more.