Cat No. 9 Eau de Purrfum: The fragrance made for you, adored by them

WORDS: Ocean Road Editorial Staff PHOTOGRAPHY Supplied

Cat-obsessed Jessica Rowe helps launch the world’s first perfume designed for you, and the cat who can’t get enough of you Sydney, Australia, 20th July 2026 Cat lovers, rejoice. There’s finally a fragrance the whole household can agree on. Introducing Cat No. 9 Eau de Purrfum, the world’s first perfume inspired by the way cats experience scent.

Most perfumes are designed to turn heads. Cat No. 9 is designed to turn whiskers.

While humans have around five million odour receptors, cats have up to 200 million, making their sense of smell dramatically more powerful than our own. The cat curled up beside you experiences the world, and you, in extraordinary detail.

Cat No. 9 was created to celebrate exactly that.

Inspired by the scents many cats naturally enjoy, the campaign shines a light on the important role scent plays in a cat’s world, and why NexGard SPECTRA® for Cats was developed with a low-odour, cat-friendly formula designed to help reduce stress for cats and their owners during monthly parasite protection.

Because protection only works when it’s actually given.

Inspired by scents known to appeal to cats, including silvervine, catnip and olive leaf, Cat No. 9 was developed by Jocelyn Fullerton, Founder and Perfumer at Cult of Scent, who spent months researching feline olfactory science and sourcing specialist botanicals and fragrance materials from around the world.

The fragrance opens with refreshing catnip essence, leafy green accords and violet before revealing a heart of olive fruit, olive leaf and silvervine. Soft musks, sandalwood, mosses and vanilla create a delicate, comforting finish, while a subtle touch of sweetness, chosen by Jessica Rowe during the final blending process, completes the composition.

“Cats experience scent in an extraordinary way, so every ingredient had to earn its place,” said Jocelyn.

“I sourced botanicals and fragrance materials from around the world, looking for ingredients that many cats naturally enjoy while creating a fragrance people would genuinely love to wear.

One of the biggest challenges was weaving those unusual ingredients into something elegant and beautifully balanced. Every batch was compounded by hand and allowed time to mature before bottling, just as you would with a fine fragrance.”

Helping create Cat No. 9 is television personality, author and proudly cat-obsessed Jessica Rowe, who knows all too well what it’s like to live under the watchful eye of a discerning feline audience.

“Working on Cat No. 9 completely changed how I think about scent. We spend so much time thinking about what we like, but cats experience the world very differently to us. Learning just how extraordinary their sense of smell is was fascinating. If this gets people talking about their cats and their wellbeing, then I’m all for it,” Jess said.

“One of the most surprising discoveries that we made during the formation of this fragrance was that one of a cat’s favourite scents is often its human. Rather than masking that familiar scent, Cat No. 9 was designed to gently enhance it, ” Jess concluded.

Beyond the novelty, Cat No. 9 was developed to shine a light on the important role scent plays in a cat’s life and encourage Australians to think about preventative healthcare.

Australia is home to an estimated 5.8 million pet cats, yet research commissioned by Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health Australia and conducted by YouGov found fewer than half (48%) of Australian cat owners proactively stay on top of parasite protection. Only 23% treat their cats monthly.

For a creature whose nose is one of its primary ways of understanding the world, strong or unfamiliar smells can be surprisingly important. The research found treatment odour can be a barrier to regular parasite protection, with some owners concerned about how their cat responds to the smell.

Veterinarian Dr Phillip McDonagh says understanding how cats experience scent can help owners better understand their pets. “Cats rely heavily on their sense of smell to navigate their environment and interact with the world around them,” Dr McDonagh said.

“They are also masters at hiding illness and discomfort, which is why prevention is so important.

Parasites such as fleas, ticks and worms can cause significant health issues and, in some cases, life-threatening disease. Yet many owners don’t realise there is a problem until their cat becomes unwell.”

Cat No. 9 also highlights the science behind NexGard SPECTRA Spot-On for Cats, a parasite protection product independently shown to have the lowest odour concentration among products tested, helping remove one of the barriers that can make treatment more challenging for cats and their owners.

While Cat No. 9 won’t be appearing at your local department store, a limited number of bottles have been created and will be available to cat lovers nationally.