Cats on Crack

I've heard about the power of catnip over cats before, but I never really experienced it until yesterday. One of our cats is a hairy beast that refuses to be brushed, but sheds continually. We bought one of those brush attachments you put on a corner at cat level so they can brush against it. It included catnip to add to little scent holders on the brushes to encourage the cats to rub against it.

Yikes! I wasn't there for it, but my wife reports that she hardly had the box it came in open before the cats pounced. Anything that had even a faint catnip smell became hotly contested property.

After I came home we mounted the brush on a corner downstairs. As expected, they were all over it. Or rather, Jynx was all over it. If Max came near Jynx would fight him off. Max, instead, had to find other sources for his fix. After I mounted the brushes I put the instruction sheet up on my bookshelf. Max somehow got up into the bookshelf, knocked down the paper, and proceeded to lick or chew holes in it where the smell was strongest with the frantic enthusiasm of a hyena trying to clean a carcass with a lion bearing down.

I was reminded of those PSA spots where a small choir sarcastically sings the praises of meth while a junkie frantically cleans the floor with a toothbrush, swats at imaginary creatures, and claws at her skin.

By bedtime Jynx still hadn't calmed down. He proceeded to do laps around our bedroom, moving from the sewing desk to the bed to my nightstand and back, pausing briefly in each place before leaping off to the next locale. He did this several times, round and round, until it about drove me nuts. I finally banished him from the room.

Last I heard he was rummaging through the utility room looking for goods to fence or propellants to huff.