There's More to Silver Vine Than Just Chew Sticks
Whenever we ask new customers "Do you know about Catnip-Alternatives?" Most of the time, people will answer "no", but occasionally, someone will say "Like silver vine?" Silver vine is quickly becoming a popular catnip-alternative, but the limited options that are available in most pet stores are leading people to believe that their cat doesn't really like it.
We have had so many customers tell us "I tried silver vine sticks with my cat and they weren't that interested" or "I think my cat likes silver vine, I have this silver vine/catnip blend, but they also like catnip, so I don't know if they like silver vine." There are important differences between the parts of the silver vine plant (which we detail in this blog post), and understanding your kitty's favorite mode of interacting with them will help maximize their enjoyment.
What is Silver Vine?
Silver Vine (Actinidia polygama) is a popular cat-attracting plant that is native to East Asia where it is also known as Matatabi. The Silver Vine plant has different active ingredients than Catnip, which is an entirely different plant. The cat-attracting chemicals in Silver Vine are found all throughout the plant, but in different concentrations. We offer every part of the plant, the leaves, the stem, and the fruit.
Silver Vine Leaves and Flowers photo credit
How Do Cats React To Silver Vine?
The cat-attracting compounds in silver vine are different than those in catnip. While the active ingredient in catnip is nepetalactone, the cat-attracting ingredients in silver vine include actinidine and iridomyrmecin, and a variety of other chemicals that are similar to, but not identical to, nepetalactone. This mixture of natural ingredients entices most cats.
Molecular structures of the three main cat-attracting active ingredients in certain plants
These active ingredients in silver vine still evoke the "catnip response" in cats, which includes:
- Biting of a catnip-containing toy
- Rubbing their head on the toy
- Shaking their head
- Holding the toy with their paws
- Licking the toy
- Bunny kicking the toy
- Rolling on their side
- Twitching or rippling of the muscles of their back
The most frequent "catnip response" that cats experience is the rubbing of their heads on a toy containing the herb, but one study found that some cats who enjoy silver vine will more often lick a toy that contains it. We love getting videos from customers who just received our silver vine toys and are experiencing the euphoria of the "catnip response."
Is Silver Vine Stronger Than Catnip?
It depends what you mean by "stronger." A study of 100 cats found that more cats respond to silver vine than catnip. Around 80% of cats will respond to silver vine, while only 68% percent of cats will respond to catnip, although many cats respond to both of them. If your cat doesn't roll around on the catnip toys you buy, they might go wild for silver vine. Your cat isn't broken, they just don't have the right receptors in their nose to detect the active ingredient in catnip, nepetalactone. Silver Vine has a different medley of cat-attracting ingredients that hit the receptors differently, and can awaken the "catnip response" in many cats who do not respond to Catnip
Does the effect of silver vine last longer than catnip? No, not on average. Is the "catnip response" more intense with silver vine than catnip? No, it's not measurably different. The most important conclusion of the studies that have been done so far is that a cat's response to any of the known cat-attracting plants depends randomly on the cats genetics and their personality. So there is only one way to tell if your cat has a favorite herb, how they will react, and for how long...and that is to try them all out!
Which Part of the Silver Vine Plant Should I Try?
The answer to this question depends on your cats personality and their preferences for how they like to interact with cat herbs. In general, we see the most success with our silver vine leaves and fruit (including fruit powder), they seem to have the most potent concentrations of the active ingredients. But if your cat likes to chew things, like your pens for example, then Silver Vine Sticks may be something they would enjoy chewing. We sprinkle silver vine fruit powder on our sticks, to give them some extra scent.
If you like to sprinkle catnip in a certain location for your kitty to roll around on, you might like Silver Vine Leaves. You can crush the dried leaves in your fingers to release a blast of the fragrant compounds that cats love to sniff, and then sprinkle them on a cat bed, cat scratcher, or just on the floor. Leaves are also great to stuff in refillable toys because they are light and take up space. Just make sure to leave the bag in drawer or cupboard where your kitties can't find it! We sell herb-infused blankets and mats that keep the herbs inside if you don't want to sprinkle herbs all over the place.
A strange fact about the fruit of the silver vine plant is that the fruit itself doesn't contain that much of the active ingredients that cats love, that is until a small insect lays its eggs in the flower of the silver vine plant (!), which causes the fruit to turn into a fruit gall and generate a lot of the chemicals that attract cats. We sell this part of the silver vine plant in a course ground pieces, The powder is really easy to spread onto a favorite toy or any kind of fabric. The course ground pieces are good to sprinkle on a carboard scratcher because they fall in the nooks and crannies and release their scent over a long period of time. Some cats even like to eat the 2-3 pieces of course ground silver vine fruit at a time, but they're really meant for sniffing.
We sell toys of various shapes, sizes and textures that are stuffed with a mixture of silver vine leaves and fruit. If your cat like toys and silver vine, these are sure to be a hit. If you have only tried stale silver vine sticks from the big box store, or any kind of "catnip/silver vine blend", and want to know if your cat likes 100% pure silver vine, check out our selection. Thousands of our customers have found that it is their cat's favorite herb.
Is Silver Vine a Drug? (No!)
Silver vine, like all cat herbs, is not addictive, and does not induce any long lasting negative effects. Equating silver vine to drugs may be harmful because it causes some people to deny their cats a euphoric, natural experience and important olfactory enrichment that contributes to a healthy, comfortable home environment.
Reputable scientist Sebastiaan Bol has studied hundreds of cats and their reactions to cat-attracting plants, in one of his published studies, he states that he "did not observe any withdrawal, abnormal behavior, or changes in behavior of any of the participating cats after the cat attractants had been taken away from the cats." He also believes that it improves relationships in a multi-cat household, stating "we believe that we observed more positive interactions between the cats in the testing area when the cat-attracting plants...were present”
Should I Try Silver Vine with My Cat? (Yes!)
If your cat has not had a whiff of Silver Vine, they are missing out. If your cat is one of the 80% who respond to Silver Vine, they will be rubbing their cute little face all over our Silver Vine Toys. You can also try out the other Catnip-Alternatives that we offer, Tatarian Honeysuckle and Valerian Root. If you want to try them all, check out one of our Combo Packs.
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