If your cats like catnip but the messy flakes annoy you, give catnip pellets a try.
Catnip pellets are just dry flakes that have been compressed into potent pellets. Balls made from compressed catnip have been around for ages and for some reason those don’t hold my cats’ interest the way the smaller pellets do.
I store my cat toys in a container of catnip. Every few weeks, I rotate the toys that are in the container: those that have been in the container come out while those that have been out and played with go into the container. My cats always act like the freshly nipped toys are brand new again. This is a great tactic to use if your cats like catnip and lose interest in toys after a short while.
My cats have a much stronger reaction to toys that have been stored in the pellets than those that have been stored in the flakes, so I guess I’m not the only one here who thinks their scent is more potent.
I go through a lot of them, so I order them in bulk online. But most local pet stores sell pellets in small plastic pouches or round tins.
If your cat likes to eat catnip, you might want to stick to the dried leaves, flakes, or fresh.
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The best source I’ve found for catnip pellets that are of high quality and are bug-free is San Francisco Herb Co: https://www.sfherb.com/Catnip-Pellets–1-Lb_p_265.html. (Drs Foster and Smith used to sell them, but haven’t carried them for quite a while. The last time I purchased the pellets through Drs Foster and Smith they were full of bugs anyway so I already decided to find a different source.)
For the average family, just one 1-pound bag of catnip pellets would be enough to last for 5+ years.