On: Why cats are crazy for catnip

[jrimbault]

Olive wood too. Many cats will lick a piece of olive wood and seem to get some kind of high from it.

I've seen many cats lounging under (or on top of) olive trees in the Alps around Nice (France).

[RandallBrown → jrimbault]

The cat I had growing up was OBSESSED with olives. He would eat one, then roll around in the spot where it was on the floor. It was the same reaction he had to catnip, but more extreme.

My current cat is much less interested in olives, but loves catnip.

[beagle3 → jrimbault]

Is this a specific olive specie?

I have an olive tree in my yard, about 10 cats who live in the yard and the street, and none of them ever seemed to care about the tree or the olives.

[jrimbault → beagle3]

Try cutting and sanding a (too big for their mouth) piece of wood (it's a very hard wood), in my experience that's the most "potent" form of the drug. I used to keep a piece of wood, a bit larger than a domino, for my own cat and sanded it more or less regularly.

I don't know about olive species, but I know that not all cats have that weakness.