Catnip Chaos

Animal House Vignette #39 | Catnip

Picture by Uriel Soberanes on Unsplash

Gryzka, oh great Queen of Catnip, I am almost afraid to attempt your challenge; you sound so strict.

I don’t have a cat companion at present, because my much lamented Tilly crossed the rainbow bridge at the beginning of 2025, and in my current lodgings, I am not allowed pets. She was a cat who disregarded catnip. I bought some to encourage her to use her “banana bed” and a mouse toy I had given her, but she just ignored the items sprinkled with catmint.

Now, a number of years ago, I bought some catnip seeds. When I planted them indoors, they grew splendidly. Eventually, they came into flower. Time to move the catnip out into the garden, I decided.

I thought it was “Mission accomplished”. However, many local cats found their way into my garden, allured by the aroma of the “kitty mint”. They loved the clump of catnip. They jumped in it, they rolled in it, they veritably figuratively declared love to it.

Sadly, the catmint clump was but a young and spindly thing. Its roots had not properly taken hold. The deep affection lavished on the clump by the neighbourhood kitties was really too much love.

One morning, I arose to find that the catmint was but a mere tuft. The ardent rolls and leaps of the cats were killing it — and not softly. Before very long, it was “RIP Catnip”.

If I tried to grow the plant again, I thought, I would give it more protection, while not denying those pesky felines a sniff. I would place any future catmint growing experiments in a raised planter to give them a chance to take root securely. In a planter, I hoped the cats could enjoy the catmint without killing it.

RMW

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