# My cat reacts to celery like it's catnip **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 18, 2011, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-reacts-to-celery-like-its-catnip/568123 "2011-01-18T21:05:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-reacts-to-celery-like-its-catnip/568123/1 "2011-01-18T21:05:40Z")
I discovered this a couple of weeks ago when I had put out some celery for dinner. Afterwards, it was still on the table, and the cat jumped up and started sniffing it in that sort of slightly alarmed way… then she started batting at it and generally attacking nearby objects; she ended up getting rolled up in one of the placemats and falling off the table. I have two other cats that also like catnip but do not seem to be affected by celery. Anybody else have such a cat? (And I can’t figure out how to include photos. Do they have to be on a website or something?) ---
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-reacts-to-celery-like-its-catnip/568123/2 "2011-01-18T21:11:17Z")
My cat acts like that with fresh basil. He will also sniff other herbs and vegetables but it’s only basil and the 'nip that turn him into Stoner Kitty. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-reacts-to-celery-like-its-catnip/568123/3 "2011-01-18T22:54:23Z")
My cats act stoned on green olives. The girl reacts the same way she does to catnip. The boy doesn’t care about catnip but goes insane around green olives, stalking his siter and attacking and biting everyone around. I’ve come to the conclusion that he’s a mean drunk. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-reacts-to-celery-like-its-catnip/568123/4 "2011-01-18T23:13:37Z")
> [@](#): > > (And I can’t figure out how to include photos. Do they have to be on a website or something?) You need to upload your photos to one of the filesharing sites, and then link to that photo in your SMDB message. A good one is found at [www.flickr.com](http://www.flickr.com). Visit that site, and root around to find how to upload. It is actually pretty easy -good luck. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-reacts-to-celery-like-its-catnip/568123/5 "2011-01-19T03:26:48Z")
One of my cats treats Good Earth “Tea for Sleep” teabags like catnip. She goes NUTTY over them. It’s quite hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-reacts-to-celery-like-its-catnip/568123/6 "2011-01-19T04:00:18Z")
> [@psychobunny](#): > > My cats act stoned on green olives. The girl reacts the same way she does to catnip. The boy doesn’t care about catnip but goes insane around green olives, stalking his sister and attacking and biting everyone around. I’ve come to the conclusion that he’s a mean drunk. I briefly had a Persian who also had a thing for olives. He’d actually suck out the pimentos. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-reacts-to-celery-like-its-catnip/568123/7 "2011-01-19T08:52:44Z")
Green olives and KFC biscuits. ---
**Author:** ![Arglefraster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@Arglefraster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arglefraster)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-reacts-to-celery-like-its-catnip/568123/8 "2011-01-19T12:56:05Z")
Huh, I also used to have a cat who’d go nutty for green olives. I had no idea it was so common. The weird thing was, we had to stop giving him catnip because he’d get downright mean when he was on it. His eyes would get real big and his fur would all fluff up and he’d scratch the shit out of anyone who came near him. But green olives just made him act goofy (the way most cats react to catnip). ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-reacts-to-celery-like-its-catnip/568123/9 "2011-01-19T13:41:34Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > One of my cats treats Good Earth “Tea for Sleep” teabags like catnip. She goes NUTTY over them. It’s quite hilarious. Does it have [actual catnip](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catmint) in it? According to the wikipedia article at least it would not seem out of place in a soothing-style tea. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-reacts-to-celery-like-its-catnip/568123/10 "2011-01-19T16:58:56Z")
One of my cats acts that way with strawberry tops. I’ve trimmed the tops of strawberries and left them on the counter while I eat the strawberries and come back to find Luna rolling around on the strawberry tops. I had a friend whose cat was crazy about green olives. ---
**Author:** ![limegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@limegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/limegreen)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-reacts-to-celery-like-its-catnip/568123/11 "2011-01-19T17:29:54Z")
My daughter’s cat would go nuts for salsa or spaghetti sauce. None of our cats really reacted much to catnip except for our old tom, Sunny. He was nearly 25 pounds, and could stand on his hind feet and swipe stuff off our kitchen table. I always swore he was mixed with some sort of wild cat. We would put catnip in an old sock and tie off the top and he would lick and suck on that sock and just turn into a puddle of furry mush, laying around stoned out of his massive head. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-reacts-to-celery-like-its-catnip/568123/12 "2011-01-19T17:35:37Z")
I had a cat that was crazy for my Act mint mouthwash because she was fascinated with my breath after I used it. I then poured out a _very_ small portion into a bowl for her (like, much less than I would use for rinsing) and she must have smelled it for an hour. Unfortunately for her, then she drank some. And by unfortunately, I mean she discovered it didn’t taste very good. So while she still was sort of interested in my minty breath, she ignored the mouthwash when I set out a dish for her – didn’t even smell it. ---
**Author:** ![slightly\_askew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@slightly\_askew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slightly_askew)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-reacts-to-celery-like-its-catnip/568123/13 "2011-01-19T17:44:03Z")
One of my cats goes loopy whenever I use a muscle rub cream. It affects her much more than catnip. I am guessing it’s the menthol in the cream that does it. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-reacts-to-celery-like-its-catnip/568123/14 "2011-01-19T17:54:28Z")
I used to have a cat with that exact reaction to celery. Any time I was using it I would always drop a few leaves on the floor for him and he would roll around on it and act like it was a combination of crack cocaine and catnip. We also had another very gentle cat who would have killed for a black olive. Not a green one. Only a black one. Just the other night, I put some Gold Bond lotion on at bedtime. It has a sort of combined mint/menthol/medicinal scent to me. One of our current cats found that extreeeemly attractive. Darn near licked the skin off my hand. ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-reacts-to-celery-like-its-catnip/568123/15 "2011-01-19T18:21:19Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > Just the other night, I put some Gold Bond lotion on at bedtime. It has a sort of combined mint/menthol/medicinal scent to me. One of our current cats found that extreeeemly attractive. Darn near licked the skin off my hand. Not surprising, as catnip is in the mint family, so many are attracted to rubs containing menthol. However, beware if your cats wants to lick a rub containing both methol and camphor (like Vicks Vaporub) because camphor is very toxic for cats. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-reacts-to-celery-like-its-catnip/568123/16 "2011-01-19T19:18:01Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > I discovered this a couple of weeks ago when I had put out some celery for dinner. Afterwards, it was still on the table, and the cat jumped up and started sniffing it in that sort of slightly alarmed way… then she started batting at it and generally attacking nearby objects; she ended up getting rolled up in one of the placemats and falling off the table. Maybe she’s actually a [treecat](http://honorverse.wikia.com/wiki/Treecat). Better count her legs. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-reacts-to-celery-like-its-catnip/568123/17 "2011-01-19T21:03:29Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > Maybe she’s actually a [treecat](http://honorverse.wikia.com/wiki/Treecat). Better count her legs. > > 😉 I spent quite some time last night trying to find a picture of a treecat eating celery; no luck. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-reacts-to-celery-like-its-catnip/568123/18 "2011-01-20T05:22:39Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Does it have [actual catnip](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catmint) in it? According to the wikipedia article at least it would not seem out of place in a soothing-style tea. It might, I don’t know. I haven’t been able to find it since we moved to Massachusetts without ordering it online. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Andrew\_Trezise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Andrew\_Trezise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andrew_Trezise)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-reacts-to-celery-like-its-catnip/568123/19 "2011-01-20T05:39:31Z")
We used to have a cat named Samantha (1972-88)…she used to sniff vegies in the colander, I think she liked celery because of its fragrance. She was also sensitive to noise, she squealed if cutlery was thrown out of the sink when you washed up. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-reacts-to-celery-like-its-catnip/568123/20 "2011-01-20T05:42:32Z")
Cantelope and corn chips. There’s no explanation for cats. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-reacts-to-celery-like-its-catnip/568123.md?page=2)