White Wine Contains A Cat Pheromone

Sauvignon blanc is a white wine with the flavour of gooseberries. It contains a chemical called: 3-Mercapto-3-methylbutan-1-ol (MMB), which is a thiol. MMB is also believed to be a pheromone in cat’s urine. MMB is derived from felinine, an amino acid in cat’s urine. You could also say, therefore, that Sauvignon blanc contains the same chemical that is in cat’s urine.

A bit of chemistry but not particularly useful information except for the fact that it is quite interesting, I think. We cannot smell cat pheromones unless you are Sarah Hartwell! We can smell the aroma given off by wine. The group of chemicals called thiols contribute to the aroma of Sauvignon blanc wines.

I feel like a glass of Chardonnay all of a sudden……I wonder if the pheromone, MMB, is the chemical in cat’s urine that is impossible to get out of carpets or car seats! It is almost certainly more complicated than that.

Photo (wine) credit: Martin Krolikowski – collage by Michael (merging wine picture and chemical digram for MMB)

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Howdy Dee — Am still sitting here. ‘Charlie Horse’ has set in from yesterday and can barely move, though there’re tons of gardening left.

Yes – I agree with you. I don’t like cut flowers either, partly because many of them are flown up here from Africa on fuel-guzzling jets in this era of global warming, etc.,though the farmers who grow and harvest the flowers need to earn a living, too. Things keep getting tighter and tighter.

Not that cutting plants is that morally culpable. Anti-vegetarians try to nail you by pretending there’s no difference between butchering animals and butchering plants. Thing is, there’s no need to kill a plant to eat it. You just give it a trim (that includes root veggies), let it die when it’s fulfilled its destiny, then plant the seed the following season. If you use open-pollinated seed, the offspring reflect the parentage. As to whether plants have any neural reaction, however – heck yes. It’s been proven.

Didn’t know you were a mom – belated happy Mother’s Day! Where you live, bet you can transfer potted flowering plants to a garden, and they’ll thrive. Up here? Maybe sometimes.

Hope you’re not melting away in the heat. We’ve had 80 F. for several days, which is unheard of out here on the coast, where it rains eight feet every year. Rain is forecast to return tomorrow – thank heavens.It used to get up to 75 F. in Seattle – which would finish me off if I tried it again, after nine years of living down here, where it seldom gets above 69 F. As for the rain, though, don’t anyone badmouth me about rain. The Imperial Valley farmers will be heading up to this neck of the woods one of these days, as the soil down there is turning into salt-flats.

Apologies to PoC for these non-feline subjects. Take care! S.

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Comments

White Wine Contains A Cat Pheromone — 21 Comments

kylee on May 17, 2014 at 4:36 am said:
yea i dont drink wine much or beer unless special occassions can only have a few due to the amount of meds im on. i find i dont need that anyway. I wouldnt want to if it has that stuff in it
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- Michael Broad on May 17, 2014 at 8:11 am said:
  I like a beer at midday! And a bit of wine in the evening! 😉 Being a solicitor drove me to it. But I work through it all.
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  - kylee on May 17, 2014 at 8:39 am said:
    yea that would of been amazing and also very busy life to lead & Stressful i imagine.
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  - Ruth aka Kattaddorra on May 17, 2014 at 1:36 pm said:
    Some things do drive us to drink…that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it lol 😉
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Sylvia Ann on May 15, 2014 at 10:05 pm said:
Thank you. Don’t think so.
Have an entrenched aversion for joy-juice. Into homemade blackberry nectar. Don’t give a toot what anyone else quaffs, but damned if I’ll spend two minutes around them. While they never missed a day of work, both of my pitiful, leather-livered, monkey-backed brothers popped their clogs at age 62.
A seductive sensation? Sleeping pills. Dalmane is paradisiacal.(Haven’t popped it in 30 years, though.)
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Sylvia Ann on May 15, 2014 at 9:31 pm said:
Howdy Dee — Am still sitting here. ‘Charlie Horse’ has set in from yesterday and can barely move, though there’re tons of gardening left.
Yes – I agree with you. I don’t like cut flowers either, partly because many of them are flown up here from Africa on fuel-guzzling jets in this era of global warming, etc.,though the farmers who grow and harvest the flowers need to earn a living, too. Things keep getting tighter and tighter.
Not that cutting plants is that morally culpable. Anti-vegetarians try to nail you by pretending there’s no difference between butchering animals and butchering plants. Thing is, there’s no need to kill a plant to eat it. You just give it a trim (that includes root veggies), let it die when it’s fulfilled its destiny, then plant the seed the following season. If you use open-pollinated seed, the offspring reflect the parentage. As to whether plants have any neural reaction, however – heck yes. It’s been proven.
Didn’t know you were a mom – belated happy Mother’s Day! Where you live, bet you can transfer potted flowering plants to a garden, and they’ll thrive. Up here? Maybe sometimes.
Hope you’re not melting away in the heat. We’ve had 80 F. for several days, which is unheard of out here on the coast, where it rains eight feet every year. Rain is forecast to return tomorrow – thank heavens.It used to get up to 75 F. in Seattle – which would finish me off if I tried it again, after nine years of living down here, where it seldom gets above 69 F. As for the rain, though, don’t anyone badmouth me about rain. The Imperial Valley farmers will be heading up to this neck of the woods one of these days, as the soil down there is turning into salt-flats.
Apologies to PoC for these non-feline subjects. Take care! S.
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Sylvia Ann on May 15, 2014 at 8:19 pm said:
Detest booze. Once in a blue moon would sip a glass of Harvey’s b.c. but only after heaving a tablespoon of sugar in it. Felled by r. fever for a year at age 9, and had to take twice daily penicillin pills – horse capsules, which my mother crushed into chrome yellow powder. To this day, cannot stand bitter flavors, and alcohol tastes bitter. So do chili peppers. So does Belgian endive.
Cat tinkle smells better than the sickroom sweet taint of a pet rat.
______________________________________
This is equally off the subject, but twenty minutes ago there was a post on this screen re nerve damage to cats (peripheral neuropathy or something) caused by a certain drug. Post disappeared. Go explain. But since it was about cat medication, here’s a news flash, for whatever it’s worth.
Over the years, every one of my cat’s vets prescribed Clavamox (amoxicillin trihydrate/ clavulanate potassium) if the cats had an infection. But Ethel’s last vet – a new guy – said this antibiotic, which has a mild flavor and smells like bananas, causes gastric distress. Stay away from it, he warned. There are other meds less hard on the stomach.
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- Dee (Florida) on May 15, 2014 at 8:31 pm said:
  Hi Sylvia.
  I can’t find your comment for me a while ago to save my life! Where do they go?
  In any case, you wrote about Mother’s Days. And, yes, I am in Florida. I don’t have a Safeway here but so wish I did. But, I’ve seen so many beautiful flowers this season.
  I don’t approve of cutting flowers but love them as growing entities. I appreciate that my 2 children only get me growing plants for some occasions (THEY KNOW ME WELL AND MY WRATH -LOL!).
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- Michael Broad on May 15, 2014 at 9:07 pm said:
  Detest booze
  You’re missing out on some pleasure 😉
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Ruth aka Kattaddorra on May 15, 2014 at 5:11 pm said:
If it would get declawing banned I’d drink pure cat pee!
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- Michael Broad on May 15, 2014 at 5:18 pm said:
  Me too! A pint of cat pee, please 😉
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  - Ruth aka Kattaddorra on May 16, 2014 at 5:48 am said:
    lol this idea might catch on, thanks Michael for starting my day with a smile 🙂
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Ruth aka Kattaddorra on May 15, 2014 at 4:26 pm said:
lol some funny comments
If I have to drink wine to be sociable I prefer rose, I love cats so hope my choice has some of their pee in it lol
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- DW on May 15, 2014 at 4:41 pm said:
  Funniest comment yet!
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- Michael Broad on May 15, 2014 at 5:19 pm said:
  What about Champagne. It is very drinkable. Like lemonade. Don’t misunderstand me, I rarely drink it. I do drink a bit of white wine – I mean cat pee – 😉
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  - Ruth aka Kattaddorra on May 16, 2014 at 5:52 am said:
    Our late dad used to make his own beer and wine, very good it was too, unless the vinegar flies got in a bottle, then it was ghastly lol The smell could put a person off booze for life.
    But we do like a drink, in moderation and why not! 😉
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DW on May 15, 2014 at 4:01 pm said:
So….because I am a white wine wino, is this why I love my cats, or why they love me? I enjoy a good red Cabernet too….not the same?
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Barbara on May 15, 2014 at 3:02 pm said:
Well not being much of a wine drinker myself I tend to think a lot of it tastes like cats pee anyway apart from the sweet sparkling stuff so I’m not really surprised that when push comes to shove it turns out that that is exactly what it is LOL Cheers!
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- Michael Broad on May 15, 2014 at 3:24 pm said:
  LOL. Good comment. It is interesting connection between cat pee, cat pheromones and white wine.
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- Dee (Florida) on May 15, 2014 at 4:34 pm said:
  LOL!
  Not a wine drinker either.
  But those that are should stop wasting money and just wring out their pissy bedlinens. Gooseberry flavoring is optional.
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  - Michael Broad on May 15, 2014 at 5:16 pm said:
    LOL. I drink white wine sometimes – Chardonnay normally – and I like it…so there. It is better than cat urine.
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