catnip and valerian, was Re: HERB - Re: Sleep Aids

[Kathleen Keeler]

>  Jan Ward Wrote: My cat seems to get the
> > same pleasure she gets from catnip. Is that usual?
> > Will it harm her?
> > Edwinna
> >  have read that valerian does seem to have this effect on cats. Can't
> comment further; no experience.
> Lynette

Valerian (root) is supposed to be what the Pied Piper used--it has an effect on
mammals generally (dogs, rats...)
I've offered it to a variety of cats myself and haven't seen the response, but
I think I may have had leaf material.

But even catnip is only active on about 80% of cats.

This and lots more is in an article on catnip in Economic Botany in the
1980's--including the results of testing every cat in the zoo (lions ,tigers,
lynxes, pumas, bobcats, margays, jaguars ....)with catnip--yes, they mostly
repond!
And the age at which kittens generally start reacting, and the chemistry of the
active ingredient and..

A. O. Tucker and S. S. Tucker. 1987. Catnip and the catnip response. Economic
Botany 42: 214-231.

They quote Mrs. Grieve (A modern herbal) on valerian and the Pied Piper, by the
way.

Agnes
kkeeler1 at unl.edu

============================================================================
Go to http://lists.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.