Can My Kittens Have Catnip

It s perfectly safe to give a kitten small amounts of catnip however.

Can my kittens have catnip. Although catnip is totally harmless and safe around kittens both to smell and to eat it isn t necessarily effective. Absolutely catnip is safe for kittens. These hard wired preferences aren t immediately apparent though since kittens under the age of 3 months don t react to catnip at all. All cats in your case.

But of course you won t want to give a kitten too much catnip as over ingesting can lead to vomit and diarrhea and kittens have much smaller bodies and thus lower tolerances in general than full grown cats. One thing that is important to note about using catnip for kittens is that some may attempt to eat it in addition to just sniffing it or playing with it inside of a pet toy. This kitten goes crazy after been given catnip and decides everything is interesting. If a kitten is going to be a catnip lover you usually can tell that when he is 3 to 6 months old.

If he s still young give it some time. But you also must know. The herb s influence is genetic so not all cats respond to it according to the humane society of the united states. While most cats do about 15 percent reportedly do not.

Kittens whether they possess the gene or not generally do not react to catnip until they are from six to nine months old. He may wind up falling in love with his catnip toys when he gets a little older but don t be discouraged if he never seems to care. Eating a small amount of catnip is unlikely to cause a cat any harm. Since catnip has no nutritional benefits it would serve no purpose as a food additive.

Kittens can respond to catnip as early as 8 weeks old. Newborn kittens aren t usually responsive to catnip at all until they are about 3 months of age. Not all felines respond to catnip. Kittens get catnip for the first time and some new toys.

Your cat is among the lucky ones by the way since some cats don t react to catnip at all. Eating catnip causes a cat to be more sedate so perhaps it might be a good idea to feed kitty a catnip laced treat before doing something she finds stressful such as taking her on a long trip or a vet or groomer visit. Catnip is generally safe for kittens.