What is mephedrone? CAT, meow meow and synthetic cathinones in South Africa

Its close relative methcathinone is the drug South Africans call CAT.

What is the drug called cat?

The drug called cat is a synthetic cathinone: methcathinone, the original local CAT, or mephedrone, also sold as M-CAT or meow meow. NIDA describes synthetic cathinones as “a class of lab-made stimulants chemically related to substances found in the khat plant”, whose leaves are chewed as a stimulant. In Makhado, Limpopo, the health news site Bhekisisa reported that methcathinone is sold in rock form under the local name intash.

Cat is also a designer drug, or novel psychoactive substance (NPS): a lab-made drug built to copy the effect of an older one. Makers change the formula slightly to stay ahead of the law and sell the result as a “legal high”, a “research chemical” or plant food.

Mephedrone comes as a white powder with a yellowish tinge, or as crystals, capsules or pills. It is usually snorted or swallowed, and swallowing is the most common way, according to the Alcohol and Drug Foundation. Snorted, the high is short: about 1.5 to 3 hours⁵. In user surveys summarised in a 2013 review in Clinical Pharmacology: Advances and Applications, people redose every one to two hours. That is how an evening turns into a weekend.

The national figures do not even keep CAT apart from khat: SACENDU, the treatment monitoring network of the South African Medical Research Council, records CAT and KHAT under one heading because the names “are often used interchangeably during reporting”.

How is cat made, and what are the cat drug ingredients?

Methcathinone is cooked in home labs from ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, the decongestant in some cold and flu medicines, oxidised with potassium permanganate. Mephedrone reaches buyers already made, as a powder or crystals, with no label and no measured dose.

People who search for a cat drug recipe rarely ask what the cook leaves behind. A 2008 study in the New England Journal of Medicine⁴ followed 23 adults in Latvia who had used home-made methcathinone. They had developed a Parkinson-like disorder from manganese left over from the permanganate: 11 were falling every day, and 21 had a weak, quiet voice. The damage did not go away after they stopped.

Why is cat so dangerous?

Cat is dangerous because the user rarely knows what is in it or how strong it is, and keeps redosing a drug that leaves the mind in worse shape after each run.

1. Unknown ingredients

A bag sold as CAT can hold mephedrone, methcathinone or a mix of both, and a kitchen batch comes with no label and no measured dose. The buyer finds out what it was only by how it hits.

2. Unpredictable potency

No batch is like the last, and the short high pushes people to take more before they know how the first dose landed. The Alcohol and Drug Foundation warns that redosing “can place enormous stress on the body and heart”. A pounding heart and headaches are among the effects users commonly report, according to the same 2013 review, which also notes that seizures, overheating, and kidney and liver failure have been reported, as have several deaths.

3. Severe mental health effects

Agitation, paranoia and low mood are among the commonest complaints in that review, and at toxic levels it lists “aggression, agitation, paranoia, and delusions”. Long sessions and higher doses can tip into psychosis: the Alcohol and Drug Foundation notes that “some people may experience psychosis, hallucinations, or delusions, particularly at higher doses”.

For many people a run on cat starts as a way to quiet anxiety, low mood or old trauma. That reason is still there when the bag is empty, which is why treatment has to work on it as well as on the drug.

What drugs are like cat? Mephedrone, methcathinone and other designer drugs

Cat sits in a wider group of designer drugs, and in South Africa you are likely to hear about four families of them.

Synthetic stimulants (bath salts and cat)

Mephedrone, methcathinone and the products sold abroad as “bath salts” are all synthetic cathinones; NIDA notes that illicit synthetic cathinones “are more commonly known as bath salts”, and the name has nothing to do with bath products. One dose of mephedrone lasts longer than one of cocaine:

From the outside, a cocaine evening and a cat weekend look much alike, and the signs of cocaine addiction overlap with the signs of cat use below. Mephedrone also gets compared with MDMA, and CAT with tik. How long a high lasts proves little on its own: a bag can hold a mix, and only a lab test says which stimulant it was.

Synthetic cannabinoids

Spice and K2 are lab-made chemicals sprayed on plant material to copy cannabis, a different family altogether.

Synthetic hallucinogens and psychedelics

LSD and MDMA share Schedule 7 with mephedrone.

Synthetic sedatives and depressants

After a two-day run some people come down with alcohol, sleeping tablets, benzos or mandrax, and that changes the risk. If any of these is taken daily, do not stop it suddenly on your own: withdrawal from alcohol and sedatives can be dangerous. Message us first. A doctor examines you after you arrive, and if you need a detox, our medical team runs it.

Is mephedrone legal in South Africa?

No. Mephedrone and methcathinone are both listed in Schedule 7 of SAHPRA’s Consolidated Schedules, alongside heroin, LSD, MDMA and methamphetamine.

What are the signs someone is using cat?

The signs of cat use that families notice first have to do with sleep, mood and money: nights awake followed by days of catching up, a jumpy or suspicious mood, and cash that goes missing. Look for several of these together:

One sign alone proves little. Together, and repeating, they are worth a conversation, and the guide on starting that conversation can help.

A drug test may not settle it either. Ampath’s standard drug panel “does not include Cat, Ecstasy or Mandrax” (Ampath leaflet, 2024); the lab confirms methcathinone separately, by LC-MS/MS. So a clean cat drug test on a standard panel does not rule CAT out. What home drug test kits pick up, and how to read a result, is covered in drug test results explained.

If someone on cat has a seizure, chest pain or a very high temperature, or is confused, seeing things that are not there or cannot be woken, this is a medical emergency: call local emergency services now rather than waiting for a reply from us. Tell the paramedics what was taken and roughly when.

Is mephedrone in South Africa? CAT in Cape Town and beyond

Mephedrone is listed in Schedule 7 here, but the national data cannot show how common it is. South Africa’s treatment figures for January to June 2025, covering 7,975 admissions across 84 treatment centres, report CAT and KHAT under one heading and describe CAT/KHAT as methcathinone, so mephedrone is not counted apart. The cat drug page gives the CAT and khat share.

Stimulants weigh heaviest in the Western Cape. Tik was the primary substance for 30% of people admitted to treatment there, the highest rate in the country, according to the same SACENDU brief.

Is mephedrone addictive?

Yes, mephedrone can be addictive. The Alcohol and Drug Foundation says “people who regularly use mephedrone may become dependent”, and NIDA warns that people who use synthetic cathinones regularly “may develop stimulant use disorder”. The short high drives it: each dose wears off fast, and the urge for the next one arrives before the last has gone.

Addiction to cat shows up as craving between sessions, runs that get longer, and a low, anxious, sleepless comedown that eases only with the next dose. Once that is the pattern, it is time to get help.

That low can be deep, coming after a night or two without sleep, with the craving insisting that one more line would fix it. If it brings thoughts of suicide, it needs professional help the same day. If there is a risk of acting on those thoughts now, or the person cannot keep themselves safe, get emergency help immediately instead of waiting for us to answer; the SADAG Suicide Crisis Helpline is on 0800 567 567. Once the person is safe, they or someone close to them can talk to us about the cat and the low that follows each run. Dr John Wulz, our GP, reviews the sleeping tablets, benzos or antidepressants a person already takes to get through the comedown, so treatment starts from an honest picture of what is being taken.

When does cat use become a problem?

Cat use has become a problem when you keep going despite what it costs: money, sleep, work, a relationship, or the person you are on Monday. Families see it in scenes like these:

• Your son says he is staying at a friend’s place on Friday and comes home on Sunday night, grey, silent and starving.
• Your partner’s card shows the same cash withdrawals every weekend.
• The weekend now starts on Thursday, and Tuesday is lost to a flat, irritable low.

If it is you, tell us what a weekend looks like now: how long the runs last, what happened the last few times you meant to stop, and what you reach for to come down. Bring that to a first conversation with us, as it is. If your use comes with daily drinking, sleeping tablets, benzos or mandrax, do not stop those suddenly on your own. A broader checklist sits in signs of drug dependency.

Some people do cut cat out on their own, with friends who know and weekends planned around something else. When attempts to stop keep failing, when cat comes with daily drinking or pills, or when the low between runs turns dark, a residential stay helps because it puts the drug and the people you use with out of reach for weeks, long enough to work on why the runs began.

Is one night turning into two? Ask us about CAT on WhatsApp.Is one night turning into two? Call +27 79 880 0045, free and confidential.

How is cat addiction treated?

Cat addiction is treated with psychological therapy that works on the craving and on the reason the drug became necessary. At Renewed Life Center in Lakeside, Cape Town, we treat the addiction and the anxiety, depression or trauma under it in one place, on one plan, through our dual diagnosis treatment. Ruby Weber, the psychologist who heads psychology at the centre, has more than 20 years in the addictions field.

CBT works on the thought “one more line and then I stop”. DBT gives you something to do in the ten minutes on a Friday at five when the craving is at its loudest. Schema therapy, EMDR and TRE work on the old patterns and trauma the high was quieting, and relapse prevention turns all of it into a plan for your own weekends.

Every weekday is a full therapeutic day, and your own counsellor works with you one-to-one each week. The first month is about getting steady and learning what sets the craving off. Most clients stay on for a second month, and that is where the deeper work happens: trauma, relationships, and who you are when cat is no longer part of the weekend. After that, the Recovery Integration Programme lets you go out on your own in the afternoons and come back to the house in the evening, or you can move to sober living on the same property. Every discharge includes a written relapse-prevention plan built for your home.

Families stay part of it. A relative can talk to our team before the person has agreed to come, families join a group by video every week, and visits are possible from the first week.

To start, send us a WhatsApp saying what is being used, how often, and whether drink or pills are part of it. The first conversation is free and confidential and takes 20 to 40 minutes by WhatsApp, video or phone, usually with John Roberts, our Senior Recovery Specialist and Operations Manager, who has 39 years in recovery. We reply the same day. The fee depends on the programme and how long you stay; we give it on that call and send it in writing the same day. Admission can be immediate and typically happens within three days of first contact. Ask how treatment for CAT would work for you.

Questions people ask

Is CAT the same as mephedrone in South Africa?

Not chemically. In South Africa’s treatment figures CAT is methcathinone, a close relative of mephedrone, but the street name is used for both, so a bag sold as CAT can be either. Our page on the cat drug covers methcathinone itself.

Is there a mephedrone comedown or withdrawal?

There is a comedown: low mood, agitation and strong craving in the days after a run. If the low brings thoughts of suicide, the section on whether mephedrone is addictive says what to do first.

Does cat show up on a drug test?

Not on a standard panel. CAT is not part of Ampath’s standard drug panel, so a clean standard result does not rule it out; methcathinone needs a separate LC-MS/MS test at the lab.

Can cat cause psychosis?

Yes. Mephedrone can cause paranoia, hallucinations and psychosis, particularly at higher doses. If someone is hearing or seeing things, is violent or cannot be calmed, this is a medical emergency: get emergency help now rather than waiting for a reply from us, and say what was taken.

What is the difference between designer drugs and NPS?

Almost none. Designer drug is the street term for a lab-made copy of a familiar drug, and novel psychoactive substance (NPS) is the medical and legal term for the same group. Cat belongs to it.