The girlscouts went for a walk yesterday through a regional wildlife refuge on the borders of the Colorado Wilderness and the Yuppie Suburb of Denver (Waterton Canyon for any Mile High locals out there). This place is untreated by fertilizers, herbicides and insecticedes. Apart from some trails it is totally wild, and travelled only by pedestrians and horsies.
When the girlscouts came marching home and peeled off their cute little shoes by the front door, the cats (3) came trotting over like the ganja-man had come to call. In classic catnipping behavior the felines domestici were observed making in depth olfactory investigations of the recently off-cast footwear in a fashion hithertofore unseen in the same creatures. Promptly, they were high as kites doing what high kitties do best: rolling around on the floor, crouching & yowling at floating dust particles, ripping about, and playing rough with the children. Playing rough enough to draw blood and frighten the kids.
This morning they returned to the shoes for another (milder) hit. What could be on the shoes that would do this to cats? They’ve never behaved like this with catnip, but is there something related that would grow wild? Could they have been taking nose hits on PCP-laced horse excrement that may have contaminated the shoes? And, most importantly, would the same junk work on humans? because…you know, just curious. 