Well, yeah--cats are individuals and it's not proper to make sweeping generalizations I suppose. Ruthless bird killing depends on so many things, like the age and ability and proclivity of the cat, and their fed-or-not status. Although the stats say that domestic and feral cats are the #1 killer of various song birds, and this is used to 'imprison' cats indoors and kill them by the thousands, not all cats are able to hunt all kinds of birds successfully. Some cats do seem content to watch birds like we watch television and some cats will even go after the big birds for no apparent reason --wish I had a video of one of mine dragging that big woodpecker across the yard that was pecking him in the head as he went...(and I'm glad I don't have one of that owl ripping apart another one of mine
)
Perhaps my experience is informed by a certain scale of variety and volume (lotsa cats and losta nepetas) that does not apply across the board. I could see that if you had one cat that really loved all nepeta that it might not be possible to grow it and, likewise, if you had lots of cats and one nepeta it might not stand a chance.
maybe I shoulda kept *my* mouth shut!
I do also grow nepeta cataria, for the cats, and although most of the cats do like that one, I have never had that destroyed by cats either, at least that I am aware of. It is so prolific that I yank out much of it and I might not know if the cats wrecked some here or there before I had a chance to weed it out. Even catnip proper doesn't draw cats from all over into my yard--either here (in town) or where I used to live (farm in the middleofnowhere). And, in both places, the only nepeta of any kind for the locally roaming cats to find is (and was) in my yard. Of course, I always have resident cats and dogs so it's not like they tolerate an invasion of roaming cats. Currently, I do have cat visitors on occasion, looking for food, using my gardens as a litterbox, but pass thru mostly, en route to the neighbors. Whereas, our neighbors with feeders (dogs or no) do attract almost all of the outdoor neighborhood cats with regularity, including my own, more than I like to admit
and I do feed my cats.
So, let me re-phrase the generalization, to be more accurate regarding what attracts roaming cats to visit the places where they do not technically live--at least according to the humans, the cats themselves might have a very different opinion of their home range--and that is, some acceptable combination of relative safety and whatever else it is that they are looking for. Cats will roam far and wide and compromise the safety part of the equation, IF they are in need, for two things: food and fornication.
Otherwise, if they are fed and 'fixed' they tend to hang around somewhat close to home, but even still, they often roam around, more so when they are young and adventurous, primarily for the fun of activity--exploring/learning about their world and hunting and fighting. That's innate and they are driven to do that. But the search for nepeta is not an innate driver; it's more of an acquired taste once they discover it (and not all cats are actually into it--the attraction ranges the spectrum from not interested at all to hopelessly addicted, and interestingly enough, feral cats are over-represented in the not interested end and well-fed cats are over-represented in the indulgent end--but that's not a rule, just an observation of many cats at the shelters and clinics).
Anyway, some outdoor cats will remain avid adventurers, hunters, and fighters into their old age. Most will chill out more and yet they still often visit other places for a variety of reasons, many unique to the individual cat. The most common is still food--like Mrs. Jones gives out tuna or Mr. Smith leaves out a bowl of a different name-brand cat food for his cat (and some cats even take great delight in stealing food from dogs). Many go in search of peace and solitude. Some are very social and affectionate with people and make regular rounds to visit the folks they like. Some literally make rounds to pester other animals and people (pretty funny games of dog torment courtesy of our current northern neighbor cat). And some go to watch cat TV at the feeders, even if they have no particular inclination to kill anything. Etc. and any combination thereof.
I suppose that it is entirely possible for cats to seek out gardens with nepeta and wreak havoc, but I have not experienced that in all the years of growing various forms as a staple garden element along with plenty of cats.
