Catnip magic explained

Catnip contains a volatile oil that is essentially an artificial cat pheromone, says Ramona Turner in Scientific American. According to Turner, the volatile oil nepetalactone provokes an olfactory event that gives messages to the amygdala and the hypothalamus, areas of the brain that mediate and regulate emotional and sexual responses. The effects of catnip last about 10 minutes. Susceptibility to catnip is hereditary, and enjoyed by 70-80% of cats, who don’t exhibit the response until close to sexual maturity, about 6 months old. Read more in Scientific American