So why do cats love valerian? And do they love her? Maybe pulling the muzzle to the coveted bottle, to at least sniff, if you can’t lick it, is it not the love for this “drink” that makes them, but something else? Let's remember that the well-known valerian is well-known to all of us - it is a tincture of the rhizomes of Valerian officinalis in 70% ethanol. This alone should alert the owners, because ethyl alcohol, even in small quantities, enters the cat's body and can negatively affect its nervous system.
Someone may say: “How much alcohol is there!” Yes, there will be very little alcohol for the cat, but he himself is small! Its weight is forty or fifty to eighty times less than the weight of an adult man. So in terms of its drops turn into our glasses. But this is only one side of the problem that does not answer the question of why cats love valerian. Yes, and they “fool”, not only if Valerian women lick, but even if they simply sniff.
Recall that the second component of the tincture is the rhizomes of the plant, whose name in Spanish means “health”. Indeed, valerian helps with many diseases of the nervous and cardiovascular systems, as well as gastrointestinal spasms. This is due to the presence of essential oils and alkaloids in the rhizomes of valerian. The components of the oil are bornyl isovalerate, borneol, limonene and others. These names will say little to the uninitiated. Initiate - knows well that the explosive mixture of chemical elements included in valerian essential oils adversely affects the very important neurotransmitter systems of the brain that are responsible for many functions.
The mechanism of their effect is too complicated. We can only say that it is similar to the mechanism of action of cocaine, which is also an alkaloid. A cat is not a person. It is unlikely that she can tell what visions the reception of valerian caused her. And whether she experiences euphoria or not - we can assume by looking at her behavior. Often animals swing on the floor, meow loudly, cannot coordinate their actions. It is very difficult to talk about the pleasure they feel at that moment. Especially seeing how the unfortunate cat is unable to stand on its paws, "fit" into the wide open door or reach out to a bowl of water.
But the fact that valerian is addictive in animals is a fact confirmed scientifically. Only this fact again does not answer the question of why cats love valerian, and whether they love it. In this case, addiction is caused not by the taste qualities of the tincture, but by disturbances in the nervous system, which can ultimately lead to schizophrenia and to the death of the animal. Here again, there is a complete analogy with cocaine. It is unlikely that there will be a drug addict who will say that he loves the drug because it is insanely tasty.
Why then is valerian for cats so attractive if it is so harmful? Are animals so hungry for poison? It is believed that the smell of tincture acts on the genes of cats and cats. If this is so, then there is nothing to be done - the call of genes is invincible. Where are the genes so called for our cats that they suddenly turn from quiet and affectionate pets into inadequate? And their genes are called to multiply, or rather, mate.
Valerian vapors, not to mention droplets licked from the table (inadvertently spilled by us), cause biochemical processes, due to which a certain amount of male hormones are secreted in the body of males. When this happens naturally, the animal behaves in a similar way, but in a slightly different way. In any case, it does not fall into a prolonged sleep and stands on its feet confidently, because the cat's body is fully prepared for reproduction. When hormone secretion is caused by a chemical, the cat suffers more than it enjoys. This can be determined by his gaze, if desired, put his head under a stream of water. In the normal state, such desires are not observed in cats. In some animals, large doses of valerian that got into the body caused nervous shock, vomiting, and irreversible disturbances in perception.
Valerian for cats is also harmful and dangerous. The female organism reacts to this substance in approximately the same way as the male organism. It was determined that in the chemical composition of valerian and cat urine there are common elements that cause a surge in hormonal disorders in females. That is why they begin to swing on the floor, meow, rush to run somewhere.
It turns out, to the question of why cats love valerian, we can answer: "Because it has an exciting effect on them, similar to the action of Viagra." This is confirmed by the fact that in small kittens in which puberty has not yet occurred, this wonderful preparation does not cause the slightest interest.
But curiously, fresh valerian, and not in tincture, can have a therapeutic effect even on cats. Sometimes you can see how they tear out the roots of valerian with their paws , take them out of the ground and eat them. After that, no madness is observed in cats. And they eat grass, most likely when they have problems with the stomach.