Does a touch of castor or catnip have a place in cat gland or better off leaving it just glands, Ambergris and urine?

In Washington beaver and castor are King when it comes to cats.

Well I looked around on YouTube and lure dealer descriptions and it looks like it’s a yes. Just a dash I’d think. Still want the predominate cat gland smell. I used Valerian years ago and what I have left is the best smelling cat gland (to me) I ever made.

Found this in the archives in case anyone else was wondering.

There are two basic types of lures you can make, a food/gland and a urine/gland. A quart of glands will be sufficient for a large batch of lure, at least one gallon. With the food/gland one uses a meat base which can be the bobcat itself by grinding the meat, adding the glands and other possible ingredients to enhance the formula. Added ingredients might include castor, muskrat musk, tonquin, civet, valerian, catnip, spearmint, peppermint, asafoedita, ambrette, mink musk, weasel musk, skunk musk, etc. One wants to use common sense when adding strong ingredients like mink, skunk and weasel so as to not overpower the cat glands and base that are the essence of the lure, only enhance the base by adding curiosity and rubbing enticement odors. One can preserve the meat and gland base fresh or taint them before adding sodium benzoate. Personally, I prefer them tainted. Sodium benzoate is added at about 8 ozs per gallon. One must add glycerine as an antifreeze depending upon how much is needed for the area one traps in. Glands added to the urine base would always be preserved fresh and the same enhancement ingredients would apply. Ageing the mixture for a few months really improves the end result. Good luck! Ace

KT, You found a good old post Asa Lenon and others shared some thought provoking information a few years ago. I have this one printed off already. Like Asa says use common sense when combining ingredients?

My suggestion is to go real, real light on any additives. Good cat glands are extremely attractive to cats, if handled right. Other additives can add intrigue but I would venture to guess most trappers overshadow those good glands with the additives so that when they are done (especially after the lure has aged), they have more additive smell and less gland lure smell. The tail wags the dog, so to speak. Here's what I would suggest. Take HALF your glands, and add the additional odors you are thinking about. Let it age at least 3 months and then smell it. If you like the odor of the glands, then you are in good shape. On the other hand, if the other smells dominate the glands, then you still have half your glands to work with, or you can add small amounts of the finished lure to your virgin glands. Things like castor, mink and tonquin tend to "grow" over time, while the odor of cat glands (once fixed and stabilized), tends to stay about the same.

I age my cat glands, and add nothing to them. I let them rot down, and they get a very nice odor. When making my cat lures with them, I'll add some ingredients, such as beaver castor, valerian and some asafoetida. I also add cat essence. This is an artificial ingredient that smells just like a tom cat sprayed. It gives the lure a very catty odor.

OK, now that's not fair, Mr. Dobbins. You can't drop "cat essence" and then not tell where it comes from. ;-)

LOL, trade secret. I get it straight from a chemical supplier.

I wish I knew what it was you gave me years ago, I’m down to the last of it. One of the best cat lures I’ve used.

I’ve been making cat gland twenty years I guess and have strayed very little from the Mel Hershberger formula. Like Lazarus said, very lightly on anything else. The valerian was a winner, to me.