BuyCatnip / Prepare
How to prepare catnip for your cat
There is no recipe to follow: catnip is given fresh, dried, or in a toy. The care is in the amount and in how you store it.
Three ways to give it
- Dried leaves and flowers: rub a pinch between your fingers to wake the smell, then sprinkle it on the floor, a scratcher or a bed.
- Fresh: a few leaves from a pot or a garden plant, bruised a little.
- In a toy: a cloth toy filled with dried catnip; refillable toys let you top them up.
How much
Start with a pinch, not a handful. A cat that eats a large amount can get an upset stomach, so a small amount on the floor, picked up after play, is the safe way to begin. Watch how your cat reacts: some get lively, others calm.
Keeping it fresh
Keep dried catnip in a closed jar or bag, away from light and out of your cat's reach. A cat that knows where the bag lives will try to open it. Take out only what you use, and close the container again.
Good to know
- Catnip is given fresh, dried, or inside toys stuffed with it.1,2
- Catnip makes some cats calm and others lively.2,3
- Too much catnip can cause vomiting and diarrhea, which is why the ASPCA lists catnip as toxic to cats.1,3
- A catnip episode usually lasts about 10 minutes.4,5
How we checked this page
Checked on October 20, 2026. We kept a fact only when two independent publishers agree, and each one is numbered to its sources below. Where sources give different numbers, we keep only what they share. We never write a price. This page was written with an AI assistant and checked against the sources below.
Sources
- What Is Catnip and What Does It Do to Cats? (Heather Hoffmann, DVM), PetMD
- Feline Fine: The Benefits of Catnip (2019), Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine
- Toxic and Non-toxic Plants: Catnip, ASPCA
- Why Do Cats Love Catnip?, Scientific American
- catnip, Encyclopaedia Britannica