Today I found out why cats like catnip. Catnip, which is a
perennial herb in the mint family, contains a chemical called
“nepetalactone” that is released when catnip is crushed. When
cats get a whiff of nepetalactone, most will start rubbing
themselves against it, playing around with it, sometimes eating
it, and generally will act quite bizarrely. It is thought, but
not known exactly, that this chemical mimics certain feline
pheromones, specifically their theoretical facial pheromones (it
isn’t known whether these actually exist, but many researchers
think so, which is why cats probably like to rub their faces on
various things). Once cats have been exposed to the
nepetalactone for a few minutes, it loses its effect on them and
they will usually no longer be interested in it for about an
hour or two, at which point the chemical will start to kick in
again as they breathe it in and they will once again begin
acting bizarrely around it for a few minutes. Despite the
apparent drug-like effect, it isn’t thought t