Essential Oils

I recently read that essential oils can be deadly to cats and dogs if inhaled or skin contact occurs. Does anyone have added wisdom on this topic? Is there s safe way to use essential oils with her in the house?
I have a cat and don’t want anything to happen to her of course. She’s my first baby, and I love her dearly. :yellow_heart:

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I had the same issue when I started practicing; I wanted to use essential oils in place of incense (since I’m in an apartment and can’t create smoke). There are many conflicting articles online about which essential oils are safe to diffuse around cats. One will say lavender is safe, another will say it’s not. It was enough to make my head spin. :face_with_spiral_eyes:

I asked the vet for advice and she said:

  1. When diffusing essential oils, make sure you do it in a room where the cats can easily leave.

  2. Many online articles say that peppermint essential oil is bad for cats, but peppermint is in the same family as catnip, she said. One thing that she and all the articles are in agreement with is tea tree oil is very toxic to cats and can kill them. Eucalyptus and Ylang Ylang are also very poisonous. These essential oils should not be diffused at all if you have a cat.

  3. Put the diffuser in a spot where your cats cannot reach it.

  4. Don’t have the diffuser on for hours at time. A cat‘s sense of smell is stronger than ours, so if a room smells strongly of chamomile to us, it will smell even stronger to your cat.

  5. Essential oils of any kind should never be placed directly on your cat’s fur. Essential oils are highly concentrated and can be toxic if your cat licks them off.

Just to be on the safe side, I diffuse essential oils in a room away from my cats with the door closed for only an hour a day. I like to diffuse lemon, orange, rosemary, rose, Frankincense, sandalwood, chamomile, and Jasmine.

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@Kasandra thanks you so much! This was very informative and helpful. I appreciate you taking the time to respond back with your knowledge.:yellow_heart: I think I might reach out to our vet as well just to double check. Not that I don’t believe you but to be on the safe side. I’m sure you understand. Thanks again love! Have a blessed day! :yellow_heart::magic_wand::yellow_heart:

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I avoid diffusing essential oils at the moment. I use it to anoint candles and I have a necklace that has pads you can put some oil an in put inside. Sometimes I use that for my altar so that the scent stays up high and doesn’t travel.
For incense, I burn it infrequently, outside when I can, and if inside in a spacious room where it will disperse quickly and for only 5 minutes or so. Even if the ingredient itself isn’t toxic, the smoke is harmful for a cat’s small lungs and has the potential to cause issues like asthma.

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I don’t use essential oil diffusers as much because of our pets (we have two dogs and a cat.) The biggest thing for me was avoiding the water misting over things they would lay on or eat/play on and I found that it was too hard with how our house is set up.

Instead, I’ve switched to simmer pots where it’s much more watered down and less strong. I’ve also opted for a lot more herbs, but still use the oils with them - just less of them. Also, our pets don’t tend to stay in the kitchen as much so like @Kasandra said, the animals aren’t stuck by it.

Another thing I’ve done is add them into rollerballs, carrier oils, cleaning sprays, and balms. I get the benefit of the smell without having the whole house smell like it this way.

I hope that helps some!

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There are definitely safe ways to use essential oils around animals, but I’m not an expert so I’m going to give some links from experts to help you :blush:

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