What Is Valerian Root?
Valerian root is (like it sounds) the root of the Valerian plant (Valeriana officinalis). It is well known as an herbal supplement that humans can consume. Many people make a tea out of it and use it as a sleep aid. This causes many people to believe that it has a relaxing effect on cats as well, but that's not entirely true. Valerian Root does not contain nepetalactone, the active ingredient in catnip. Instead of this chemical, valerian root contains actinidine and iridomyrmecin, which are also found in tatarian honeysuckle and silver vine, and other chemicals that are similar in structure to nepetalactone.
How does Valerian Root affect Cats?
Only about 50% of cats will respond to valerian root, this is due to random genetics and personalities of certain cats. Cats who do respond to valerian root will display the characteristic "catnip response", 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
All observations indicate that these are blissful experiences for the cat. This behavior may look like the cat is "getting high" or "tripping", but these are not good descriptions of what is happening. Valerian root and other cat-attracting plants can be used to make kitties more comfortable with new situations, or just be a daily fun experience. We get videos from customers all the time telling us that our herbaceous toy is their new favorite.
Is Valerian Root Stronger than Catnip?
It depends what you mean by "stronger." A study of 100 cats found that more cats respond to catnip and silver vine than valerian root. Around 50% of cats will respond to valerian root, while 68% percent of cats will respond to catnip and 80% will respond to silver vine, and 50% of cats will respond to tatarian honeysuckle, although many cats respond to multiple herbs. That being said, some cats who do not respond to catnip do respond to valerian root, so if your cat doesn't roll around on the catnip toys you buy, they might be intrigued by valerian root. Your cat isn't broken, they just don't have the right receptors in their nose to detect the volatile active ingredient in catnip, nepetalactone.
Is Valerian Root a Drug? (No!)
Valerian root, like all cat herbs, is not addictive, and does not induce any long lasting negative effects. Equating valerian root to drugs may be harmful because it causes some people (the people who we meet every week at our market, for example) 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”
Is There Anything Else I Should Know About Valerian Root?
Yeah, its smells a little funky, some might describe it as "musky" or even "stinky". Every once in a while, one of our customers buys a valerian root toy without knowing how it smells, and we get a complaint, but that is just how quality valerian root smells! We try to temper the smell of our organic valerian root by mixing it with organic lemon balm, this makes it more acceptable to human noses, but sensitive cat noses will still be able to pick up the cat-attracting chemicals. Cats are interested in the lemony scent of lemon balm, but it doesn't have any cat-attracting chemicals, they are just interested in the scent.
If you're concerned that you might not be able to stand the smell of our valerian root, try out one of our valerian root toys. Unless you live in a small apartment and are overly sensitive, you will probably won't notice the scent, but your cat definitely will. Want to give it a try? Check out our Sample Packs where you can get one toy with each of our herbs in them. Our toys are refillable, so if your cat doesn't like one flavor, you can dump it out and refill it with an herb they do like!
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