What Exactly Does Catnip Do To A Cat?

Are they like tripping hard off of it, like they just popped a bunch of Ecstasy or something? Is it like smoking a joint to them? Is it like a stiff drink? Do they get hangovers from it? Is it unsafe in large amounts?

I'm just wondering, because I've never had cats before and I bought a big container of it and spilled it on the floor by accident, and my cat seriously looked like she was tripping her hiney off

 

I would like to know too. I just bought some for three of my cats and they go nuts! They start licking the floor, flipping around and doing circles. It's like watching a rowdy group of college kids on acid. I just hope they're okay!

 

Here's an article from Animal Planet about catnip. Apparently the catnip smell triggers some long-buried instinct in cats. It even works on tigers.

http://animals.howstuffworks.com/pets/question303.htm

 

^ That's a really good link. As it said, there's not something quite like it that does it to humans. They are technically "tripping," I suppose, but it fades within minutes and they calm down again.

 

Whatever it does it makes them act crazy. If it's artificial catnip, they enjoy it, but if it's absolutely fresh then the older cat (the younger one doesn't like the fresh stuff) goes insane, rolls around the ground and wants to swim in the fresh catnip. It's quite funny to watch. He also cries when he eats it!

 

I'm getting a mental image a cat in all it's glory with a mouth full of catnip and tears rolling down it's face... :-D

 

Apparently this is what catnip does: