Cat owners know that it makes them go a bit wild when they rub in it, roll on it, chew it, and lick it. This plant and its Asian counterpart, silvervine, have intoxicative properties, but this might not be the only reason that cats rub on and chew the plants soenthusiastically. Cats' behavior protects them from pests, according to researchers in Japan. The study was published in the journal iScience.
Masao Miyazaki, an animal behavior researcher at Iwate University, had to know what was going on when he wrote the book. There are scenes in the musical Cats where a cat intoxicates another cat. Miyazaki began his career in veterinary medicine with an interest in how chemicals drive animal behavior.
The compounds nepetalactol and nepetalactone are found in the leaves of cats and silvervines. The chemicals released by the plants were affected by the behavior of cats. The damage done to silvervine by cats promoted the immediate emission of total iridoids, which was 10-fold higher than from intact leaves.
The composition of iridoids changed in ways that made them more attractive to cats. As other iridoids increase, the percentage ofpetalactol in undamaged leaves decreases to 45%. A longer response was promoted by the altered iridoid mixture.
These compounds were shown to repel Aedes albopictus mosquitoes in the past. When cats damage the plants by rubbing, rolling, licking, and chewing, the repellent properties are more effective. The silvervine leaves have iridoids that make them more effective at repelling mosquitoes.
The cats were given dishes with pure nepetalactone and nepetalactol to see if they reacted to the compounds in a specific way. The same response is shown by cats to cocktails and plants. They lick the chemicals on the dish and rub against it.
When iridoid cocktails were applied on the bottom of dishes that were then covered by a plastic cover, cats still exhibited licking and chewing even though they couldn't contact the chemicals directly. licking and chewing is an instinctive behavior that is stimulated by the smell of iridoids.
The team wants to understand the cause of the cats' reaction to catnip and silvervine. "Our future studies promise to answer the remaining questions of why this response is limited to Felidae species and why some cats don't respond to these plants."
More information: Masao Miyazaki, Domestic cat damage to plant leaves containing iridoids enhances chemical repellency to pests, iScience (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104455. www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext … 2589-0042(22)00726-X Journal information: iScience
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