There are plenty of deodorizing sprays for dogs and even a handful for cats (cats are somewhat less inclined to roll around in atrocious scents to deceive prey, and are therefore less needing of such things.) What is not readily available, however, is an actual pet cologne.
That was a market niche that needed filling.
Enter Critter Country Classics, the pet cologne. It was produced in two scents: Timber Wolf for dogs, and Miss Tabby for cats. They were produced in 1989, but despite getting close enough to shelves to have press releases and a famous company spokesperson, the idea died before market. The company ran into an issue with the price point on the product; too few people demonstrated interest, which brought the price of marketing and distribution to a level where the per-bottle cost was too high.
This is not a unique occurrence. Products fail in this fashion regularly – more so, before the internet allowed marketing and distribution costs to be dramatically slashed for limited-interest products.
It wasn’t even the dubious product that was unique, although cologne for pets is certainly… unusual.
It was the inventor who garnered the attention for CCC, because she was also the spokeswoman. CCC was designed and marketed by Donna Douglas, best known as Ellie May Clampett on the Beverly Hillbillies (which explained the “Critter” title). Her career had fallen into a lull in the 1980s, and she’d decided to try something different. She hadn’t worked as an actress since 1981. (IMDb)
Here’s a link to an old Toledo Blade issue, discussing the information from the CCC press release.
Shortly after the failure of CCC to make it to market, Donna Douglas returned to acting. And singing, in one instance for the soundtrack to Grand Theft Auto 2:
Question for the night: Have you ever tried to change your career?
