By Elisa Black-Taylor
A Japanese pet supplement company is now marketing wine for cats. If you want a bottle for that special feline, you’d better hurry, because only 1000 bottles are being marketed.
B & H Lifes is the Japanese pet supply and pet food manufacturer company marketing the wine for cats, called Nyan Nyan Nouveau (nyan is Japanese for “meow”). The wine doesn’t contain any alcohol, so you don’t have to worry about your kitten becoming a cat alcoholic. Instead, it’s made with juice from Cabernet Franc wine grapes, vitamin C and catnip.
Nyan Nyan Nouveau went on sale October 15, Japan Daily News reported. The cost is equivalent to $4. This is same company that produces Wan Wan Beer for dogs. I’m not sure whether any bottles remain for sale.
B & H Life realizes cats don’t drink liquids because of taste. This is more of a marketing ploy to increase company sales since the well known human tipple “Beaujolais Nouveau” will be celebrated at one minute past midnight on the third Thursday in November. They’re hoping the eccentric will choose to celebrate with their feline companion.
Japan is the second largest consumer of wine in the world, following Germany.
I Googled B & H and came up empty-handed as far as information about this company. There are a lot of news media sources reporting the new cat wine being available, but no information on this company or where you can purchase a bottle for your cat.
Hmmmmm….I wonder whether the taste would entice the cats human companion to try a bottle? Catnip has many uses in the US. The tea is often given to babies with tummy troubles. Wine grapes sound tasty, and with vitamin C added, it’s possible this could become a “health drink” for humans. I wonder whether the company has considered that possibility?
This wine for cats falls under “weird news” on the internet. It would be interesting to do a follow up to learn whether the drink has medicinal possibilities.
Would you purchase a bottle of Nyan Nyan Nouveau for your cat? I don’t believe I would, but I’d love to try it out as an experiment. My guess is the product would either help with sleep or perhaps boost the immune system. There are horse products that are now used by humans (Mane ‘n Tail), so the idea of drinking cat wine is interesting.
What do the readers at PoC think about any of this?
Elisa
Associated: Nyan Cat is a Chartreux
The product (and the canine version Woof Woof Nouveau) seem to come from http://www.pet-bitokenko.com/ It contains grape juice. The toxin in grapes appears to be in the skin as raisins, which are toxic to cats, don’t contain juice. The company isn’t easy to search for using the Roman alphabet and I don’t know any kanji or katakana.
A pretty pointless product, but very much in keeping with Japanese kawaii culture. The only liquid adult cats require is water.
Thanks Sarah. Good research. I might do a post on the Japanese kawaii culture and cats.
I bet the person that came up with this product figured cat people are crazy enough to buy this, poisonous grapes and all!!
I doubt whether many cat caretakers would buy this product. Also I think the word “wine” has been used very liberally. It has no connection with wine and therefore there are no grapes involved.
Wine for Monty is when I push all the juice out of a can if low salt tuna into his bowl. I can hear his little tongue lapping that up from the next room. Wine for cats should be tuna flavored.
LOL. This made me smile because it is right and it shows how much more in tune with cats you are compared to a pet supplement company!
Companies who manufacture cat products are not really empathetic to cats because they are more concerned with other things – money. It is people who live with cats and who love them who are truly empathetic.
Monty is so good at training you as a servant Ruth. Giggles
He is. He had me outside with him this morning. My hair was still wet from washing it and it was like 40 something degrees out there, yet I found myself out there throwing a little twig for him while he happily retrieved it. So long as he kept doing that, I kept throwing it for him.
I thought grapes were poisonous to cats because of an unknown toxin. There is no way they could have removed the toxic substance from the grapes since no one knows what it is about grapes that causes them to poison cats. No way, no how is Monty getting any of this stuff. What were they thinking? Or did they not know? I’d say even if this doesn’t outright poison your cat he’s probably going to puking and pooping afterwards to clear the toxin from his system. What a stupid thing to do. Let’s make a product for cats out of something containing something harmful to cats. Duh.
VERY good point on the grapes Ruth.
Totally agree, Ruth.
Plus, it bothered me to read that Elisa couldn’t find info on the company. So, I tried a search myself and struck out.
No cat of mine will get anything unless I know something about the company and its reputation.
It’s not like cats haven’t been poisoned before by products made for cats. Remember the tainted cat food from China? I have a friend who lost a kitten from that and it so traumatized him that the animal died from something he gave it that he will not get another cat, even though he’d be a fabulous cat caretaker and he feels as badly as any of us over the number of cats killed in shelters– but he just can’t get over what happened, and who can blame him?
It bothered me too Dee. People may laugh at me even at the grocery or health food store because before I buy ANYTHING new I Google the product and look at the reviews. You’d think the reporters of this would have found it strange that there’s nothing on it. Nothing on the doggy beer they make either.
Maybe that’s because no one is buying either. A person has to have bought it to write a review of it.
Yes grapes ARE toxic to cats and it is a stupid thing to make wine for cats anyway. Cats only need to drink water, it’s good for them, they don’t need wine to celebrate anything.
Whatever next!
I can’t find a definitive answer from a vet but one vet site states that “pets manage to get sick from eating grapes and raisins (the toxic element has not yet been identified)”.
This is the site:
http://www.petmd.com/blogs/dailyvet/2009/July/13#.UmFN-iSE70g
I’ll guess. This product has been labelled in a way that indicates it is for cats but the word “wine” has been used liberally. It is not wine but a liquid that a cat might drink but probably won’t.
It is back to the “Beaujolais Nouveau” concept. It is all hype.
I found this site about grapes and raisins for cats. Cause kidney failure.
http://www.vetstreet.com/care/human-foods-that-are-dangerous-for-dogs-and-cats
A great marketing gimmick.Besides milk and occasionally water cats never ever relish “LIQUIDS” and in fact most get most of their liquids from the food itself. At home its usually “Wet Food” and in the wild its the prey or raw animal and fish products that supplements its liquid intake.The Japaneses are “Cat Crazy” and the ‘Cat Wine” would definitely find its way onto the human palate!.
Yes, absolutely. My Charlie rarely drinks water.
The Japanese do have a certain style all of their own. Trust them to come up with this.
This definitely a marketing exercise and it has been successful because people are discussing it online.
The interesting and novel thing is that no one has thought about drink types for cats because it is always limited to water and/or cat milk. Nothing else is produced it seems to me. That is why this is being discussed.
Which begs the question whether someone should manufacture a water type tasteless drink for cats that contains some healthy supplements. Something more sensible but functional.
That might sell well in the long term.