Is it safe to use essential oils around cats? Look online and you’ll find conflicting opinions – including horror stories of ‘essential oils’ causing severe adverse reactions in kitties. This causes many to fear EOs, but true essential oils can actually be very beneficial and safe to use on or around cats.
You see, essential oils have become very popular. And, as with most fads, lesser quality products are being created. As the use of essential oils became more and more popular, companies began to market synthetic fragrances as EOs and this is where it can become dangerous for kitties.
So let’s discuss 3 important factors you want to consider if using essential oils around cats
- Potency. Some essential oils are more potent than others so finding the right potency is important. Don’t just purchase a bottle of EOs because you think it will make your house smell better. Super potent scents can be overwhelming to our little felines with 200 million scent sensors. Strong aromas can even make kitties nauseous or trigger asthmatic symptoms. Certain herbs are even toxic to cats, so be sure that you check to see if the essential oil is safe for felines first.
- Purity. Synthetic fragrances are not true essential oils, nor are they safe to use around cats. Just like artificial candles, air fresheners and plugins are toxic to kitties, so are synthetic fragrance oils. Dr. Melissa Shelton DVM says, “these lesser essential oils are akin to spraying perfume on your cat and wondering why that didn’t bode well“. Don’t confuse pure essential oils with the synthetic fragrance oils and don’t use these artificial oils around your kitties.
- Concentration. The reason many believe that all essential oils are toxic to cats is because they believe that felines lack a certain liver enzyme to metabolize them. This isn’t completely true, however. According to Dr. Shelton cats have the same enzyme as other animals, it just takes longer to metabolize in the body. In fact, cats can take nearly 39 hours to eliminate drugs from the body whereas a dog can under 9 hours. This is why synthetic chemicals can be more harmful to our cats and why we should not be using synthetic essential oils around them either. This is also why you want to check for the concentration levels of the EO before using it around your kitty.
Dr. Shelton creates pure essential oils specifically for animals and her brand, AnimalEO, is the only essential oil we use or recommend!
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