The history of Cheetah Piss

Timeline

1. 2000sCat Piss, an energetic, ammonia-smelling sativa that Leafly lists as a phenotype of Super Silver Haze, is popular at West Coast medical dispensaries.^2,4
2. Around 2012Berner’s Cookies brand launches GSC, the strain behind both Gelato and Sunset Sherbert, and so behind both sides of Cheetah Piss’s family tree.^5,6,7,8
3. 2014Gelato is bred by reversing Sunset Sherbert to GSC; Leafly’s genealogy lists the selections that went into production as 25, 33, 41, 43, 45 and 49.⁹
4. Jan 2020The earliest of the 298 state lab tests of Cheetah Piss flower in our dataset.¹⁰
5. 2020–2021Flower labelled with the Cookies brand makes up 99 of our lab tests (33.2%), all from Nevada.¹⁰
6. Oct 2020Westword profiles Cheetah Piss, “a strain from Cookies Fam”, and finds it at most Colorado dispensaries carrying Cookies strains.²
7. 2024Ridgelion, a strain from the grower Ridgeline Farms, crosses Ridgeline Lantz with Cheetah Piss.¹¹
8. May 2024GreenState, citing Gelato’s breeder, Sherbinski, writes that “Gelato 42 has never been a thing”, though most sources name Gelato 42 as a Cheetah Piss parent.^1,12
9. Aug 2024The latest lab test in our dataset; the 298 tests come from 7 states.¹⁰
10. By 2026SeedFinder lists 45 direct descendants from breeders including Cookie Fam Genetics, Exotic Genetix, Cannarado Genetics and Atlas Seed.¹³
11. Oct 2026101 stores within 50 miles of Los Angeles list Cheetah Piss flower on Weedmaps, the most of the 27 markets checked.¹⁴

How it spread

Westword found it in 2020 at most Colorado dispensaries carrying Cookies strains, from Affinity to Simply Pure, and a Cookies four-strain pack in Ontario lists a “Cheetah P” with the same parents.^2,15 In our lab data, 99 of the 298 tests (33.2%) were on flower labelled with the Cookies brand, all from Nevada in 2020–2021.¹⁰ SeedFinder notes that Cookies keeps a very tight hold on its genetics and rarely makes its strains available to home growers.³

Westword’s reviewer framed it as a return of an older style: strains that smelled, and were named, like Cat Piss had faded away, and he welcomed Cookies embracing that sour, fume-like character; SeedFinder likewise says Cat Piss’s fame was short-lived as buyers moved to fruity, candy and dessert flavors.^2,3 Breeders then took it up: SeedFinder lists 45 direct descendants, three of them from Cookie Fam Genetics.¹³

The disputed parts of the story

• Who bred it: Leafly credits Growing Passion and Cookies Fam; Westword and SeedFinder’s write-up credit Cookies; SeedFinder’s database files it under “Unknown or Legendary”; Weedmaps calls its origins mysterious.^1,2,3,16
• When: no source we opened gives a year, and SeedFinder says it is not known exactly when Cookies created it; our earliest lab test dates from Jan 2020.^3,10
• Which Gelato: Gelato 42 in most accounts and Gelato 45 in Premium Cultivars’ seed listing, while GreenState, citing Gelato’s breeder, says there is no Gelato 42 (see genetics).^1,12,17
• Cat Piss: Weedmaps calls Cheetah Piss “thought to be a spinoff” of Cat Piss; Premium Cultivars says the two share no genetic relationship, and no published lineage includes it.^1,16,17