Anyone who owns a cat has probably given it a catnip treat or let it play with a toy containing traces of catnip. It’s amazing to watch the effect the catnip has on cats, and also pretty funny when they start acting high.

But what is happening to the cats, and why does catnip have that effect on them?

This video explores ho catnip manages to get cats high. Catnip is nothing more than a plant that has no effect on other animals, including humans. But put a cat in the vicinity of catnip and it gets high as a kite.

It turns out that the chemicals in catnip are similar to those found in tomcat’s pee, which is why the female cats act like they do. But why it also affect male cats is unclear, unless of course all cats are bisexual.

The part of the video where the cat starts chasing an imaginary mouse while foaming at the mouth is pretty cool. Although a video showing a human having that kind of episode would probably be classed as morally reprehensible.