US-based perfume company develops 'Kitten Fur' perfume

Cat lovers, rejoice! The delectable scent of the soft fur on a kitten’s head is now available in a bottle, thanks to a new US-based perfume company that has recreated the comforting fragrance of kitten’s fur.

The new perfume called “Kitten Fur” captures the olfactory essence of the warmth and comfort of the spot, just behind a kitten’s neck.

To replicate the distinctive scent produced by a place or object, perfumers use a technique called headspace technology, in which they isolate and sample the air near its source, in order to build a chemical fingerprint that can be analysed and replicated in the lab, said Mark Crames, CEO of Demeter Fragrance Library (DFL) that created the fragrance.

However, the number of materials that can be safely applied directly to the skin is limited, restricting a perfumer’s chemical palette for mixing up new smells.

Re-creating the scent produced by large organic molecules such as those found in animal smells is especially tricky.

“It’s just really hard to get the kind of depth, complexity and subtlety that you need,” Crames told ‘Live Science’.

Kitten Fur was by far the most-requested fragrance by DFL customers.

Crames spent 15 years working on Kitten Fur before the scent finally clicked, thanks to a compound that he had not come across before, which formed the base for the distinctive kitten smell, he said.

Before Kitten Fur, there had only been one other animal essence in the DFL perfume lineup - the scent New Baby – a smell that is known to trigger dopamine surges in new mothers when produced by an actual newborn.