According to a new study, feline appreciation of catnip may go deeper than we thought. A team of researchers from universities in Japan and the UK say that when cats damage catnip, they release terpenes, which repels mosquitoes.
The co-authors wrote that cats rub and roll against plants that repel mosquitoes. The benefit of this additional behavior has remained unknown.
That doesn't mean that all catnip is equally good. Cats respond to both silver vine and Nepeta cataria for the same amount of time. Silver vine has a more complex repellant effect that may work on other insects, but they prefer that catnip has a single iridoid.
Cats bite and chew when they are presented with catnip. The cats tried to bite and chew catnip and silvervine that was placed under a dish inside a covered plate, which indicates that biting and chewing the plant to damage it is related to the ability to smell it.
The team concluded that "Feline olfactory and behavioral sensitivity is fine-tuned to plant specific iridoid production for maximizing the mosquito repellency gained."
The all natural bug spray seems to get them stoned as well.
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