Merlin has a favourite toy. We call it his spider, although it almost certainly isn't meant to be one. It's a furry ball with six strings.
Merlin is very gentle in play and usually prefers to cuddle. So it is with his spider. Whenever he sees it, he grooms it like a little kitten. Sometimes he falls asleep cuddling it.
It has catnip in it and Merlin likes the smell of catnip but doesn't seem to react to it the way other cats do and is usually unimpressed by catnip toys.
Really, the thing that seems to get him the most about his spider is that he can groom and love it.
In fact, if I get his spider out, he will immediately go and cuddle it. I have never picked it up without it being absolutely soaked in cat spit.
@vicorva he’s not the only one! about 30% of cats don’t seem to have any response to catnip. there are some other plants which produce similar effects, if you think Merlin would like to try sometime—I’ve heard silvervine generally works well for non-nip responsive kitties
anyway, Merlin cuddling his spider friend is v cute :)
@Satsuma @vicorva obsessively licking a catnip toy is absolutely a nip response.