Kitten-Scented Perfume is the Ultimate 'Cat Lady' Gift

Demeter kitten fur perfume
Demeter/Jason Hoffman
Demeter/Jason Hoffman

Cat-lovers aren't necessarily known for their restraint when it comes to broadcasting their fondness for felines, and now it's even easier for them to wear their obsession on their sleeves -- literally -- with the debut of a new personal fragrance that mimics the scent of kittens. 

The perfume, which goes by the name "Kitten Fur" and has been in the works for nearly 15 years "capture[s] the essence of the warmth and comfort" that emanates from behind a kitten's neck, according to its purveyor Demeter Fragrance Library, which has previously developed a number of offbeat fragrances like "Dirt", "Sunshine", and "Moonbeam." And as you might have guessed from the prolonged development process, perfecting the smell of Kitten Fur wasn't easy.

In an interview with LiveScience, Demeter's CEO Mark Crames explained that more traditional scents are created by employing a technique known as headspace technology, which involves isolating a sample of air captured near the source and building a "chemical fingerprint" that can be replicated in a lab. However, simulating a scent produced by a living being proved particularly challenging, as it's "really hard to get the kind of depth, complexity and subtlety that you need," he said.

The eureka moment eventually came once they discovered a unique compound to form the base, Crames said, and he describes the scent of the perfected final version as "like a combination of skin and sunshine." No word on whether there's even a whiff of litter box, but we're hoping not.

If you're interested, you can snag Kitten Fur in all manner fragrance-dissemenating forms, from sprays, to diffusers, sample vials, body oil, and yes, even a shower gel.

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Joe McGauley is a proudly pro-dog senior writer for Thrillist.