Alison, I had a husker red some time ago which just up'n'died for some reason. I never noticed the cat around it; they all hung out around the nepeta (including the cat form the neighbor 2 doors down). Maybe it was a cat that killed it and I just didn't notice. I haven't tried one since.

With some trepidation I went ahead and planted it in my front garden. We've got a ton of semi-feral cats in this neighborhood and the last thing I want is a bunch of drooling, crazed penstemon-hopheads rolling around in my yard.

Of course, that might be better than having them poop in the mulch, which is what they did last year....

I'm scratching my head at the posted comments and how cats find our Husker variety irresistible--- My problem is finding a way to get my sad plant to actually grow.
It languishes here in fun sun , average fertility, air circulation, sheltered. I've thrown the book at it.
So, I tried moving it nearby with richer soil, same aspect and hoped for the best, Oh, I threw some gravel at the bottom of the hole for drainage-- Anybody know why it's stubborn ? thanks

My cat also seems to like eating my Pentstemon plant so I was trying to find out whether it was safe for her to nibble on. Don't think it's the same variety

Quite funny, same plant: Husker Red, while they never eat it, they love to smash against and/or roll on it and just chill. No other plants do they do this with aside from nip, of course!