Every cat is dif­fer­ent

Cats may react dif­fer­ent­ly to the plants list­ed below. One cat may love cat­nip, while anoth­er may show lit­tle or no inter­est in it. It is there­fore nec­es­sary to test and try. In addi­tion, some cats pre­fer live plants, while oth­ers pre­fer plants in dry form.

Final­ly, all of these plants are con­sid­ered safe only when cats chew on them with­out con­sum­ing them.

Nepe­ta spp. (Cat­nip)

All cat own­ers are famil­iar with cat­nip, of course. This plant is wide­ly avail­able for pur­chase in dried form or as a spray. But why not grow cat­nip in your own gar­den? Your cat will then be able to chew on fresh leaves and roll around in the plants. There are three vari­eties that cats par­tic­u­lar­ly enjoy:

• Nepe­ta cataria (white wild cat­nip)
• Nepe­ta race­mosa or mussinii (blue wild cat­nip)
• Nepe­ta x faassenii (var­i­ous hybrids and cul­ti­vars)

Actini­dia polyga­ma (Matatabi)

Matatabi plants are rarely avail­able for sale because their fruit is not as sweet as that of reg­u­lar kiwis. This beau­ti­ful climb­ing plant with green and sil­very-white foliage is very much loved by many cats. Cats enjoy both the live plants and the pow­der made from young matatabi plants. Matatabi sticks are also a good option. Always choose sticks that are not chem­i­cal­ly treat­ed and pack­aged in a zip-lock bag to ensure fresh­ness.

Teu­crium marum (Cat thyme)

This beau­ti­ful plant with sil­very ever­green foliage and pleas­ant­ly scent­ed pink flow­ers is unknown to most cat own­ers and is not sold in pet stores. How­ev­er, cats are inter­est­ed in cat thyme. The only way to try it is to buy a live plant and plant it in the gar­den. Cats also like it in dried form, so cat thyme can be har­vest­ed in sum­mer to let cats enjoy its scent dur­ing win­ter as well. Cat thyme is not edi­ble, but it is used in home­opa­thy.

Pole­mo­ni­um spp. (Jacob’s lad­der)

This is anoth­er attrac­tive plant that is unknown to most cat own­ers. Pole­mo­ni­um is a short-lived peren­ni­al plant that gives off a dis­tinc­tive scent that some cats find appeal­ing. Its flow­ers are usu­al­ly blue in col­or. The plant is con­sid­ered edi­ble (roots, young leaves) and has med­i­c­i­nal prop­er­ties. How­ev­er, it is often used sole­ly as an orna­men­tal plant. Most pop­u­lar vari­eties: Pole­mo­ni­um caeruleum et Pole­mo­ni­um rep­tans (a creep­ing form).

Vale­ri­ana offic­i­nalis (Valer­ian)

Valer­ian is a med­i­c­i­nal plant well known for its calm­ing and relax­ing prop­er­ties. How­ev­er, some cats find valer­ian, and espe­cial­ly dried valer­ian root, as appeal­ing as cat­nip. The plant is easy to grow, but it grows quite tall and can even reach a height of 1.5 meters. In addi­tion, valer­ian has a strong, rather unpleas­ant odor that most peo­ple do not appre­ci­ate. Before plant­i­ng this plant in your gar­den, it is there­fore best to make sure that your cat real­ly likes it. You can buy dried valer­ian root at a phar­ma­cy.