Essential Oils - Cats and Dogs
Essential Oils & Cats
It has been recommended that if you decide to diffuse essential oils around your cats that you leave the door open and allow them to leave. Unfortunately, some cats don’t leave, and there have been reports of pet owners having to put their cats down due to liver failure, even after just a couple of weeks of diffusing.
Cats simply are unable to metabolize essential oils
due to the lack of glucuronyl transferase, a liver enzyme.
Some of you have been diffusing around your cats, and they are fine (so far). There are real risks, and it’s up to you as the pet owner to decide if you want to risk diffusing around your cats or not. Ideally, diffuse in a room where your cat can’t enter.
Essential Oils & Dogs
General Safety Tips
When offering essential oils to your dog, you want to first pre-select 3-5 essential oils from the safe list below, which you believe to be the most effective for the issue that needs addressing. There are often several essential oils which can be beneficial, and allowing your dog to choose which one specifically will ensure you do not go wrong.
Allow your dog to sniff the closed bottle (remember, dogs have an incredible sense of smell and even when the bottle is closed, this is enough for them) and once you know which one(s) your dog prefers, you can then dilute accordingly.
Essential oils safe to use with dogs.
Here is a list of essential oils that are known to be safe for use around dogs according to the essential oil animal experts.
Knowing how much to dilute for inhalation and topical use.
Essential oils must always be diluted before using topically or offering them to your dog to inhale when using as a remedy. Although dilution guidelines may differ depending on the individual essential oil and issue that needs addressing, the general rule of thumb for dogs is to use a 1% dilution for emotional issues, and a 2-3% dilution for physical issues.
Please note that physical issues don’t always require topical application. Inhalation can be effective for pain control and wound healing.
Information for this article has been obtained from www.learningabouteos.com
It has been recommended that if you decide to diffuse essential oils around your cats that you leave the door open and allow them to leave. Unfortunately, some cats don’t leave, and there have been reports of pet owners having to put their cats down due to liver failure, even after just a couple of weeks of diffusing.
Cats simply are unable to metabolize essential oils
due to the lack of glucuronyl transferase, a liver enzyme.
Some of you have been diffusing around your cats, and they are fine (so far). There are real risks, and it’s up to you as the pet owner to decide if you want to risk diffusing around your cats or not. Ideally, diffuse in a room where your cat can’t enter.
Essential Oils & Dogs
General Safety Tips
- dogs are more sensitive to essential oils than humans are. Essential oils should always be used diluted, even when just inhaling. This is important to remember, as we humans don’t dilute when inhaling.
- most issues that dogs have can be addressed with the inhalation of diluted essential oils. There are a few issues which can be addressed with topical use, see below.
- only use essential oils with your dogs when needed to address a concern – not to “prevent” a health issue. An example is to have them inhale a digestive essential oil after they eat, when they don’t have any digestive issues. This is not recommended.
- this is probably obvious to most of us, but it goes without saying: do not add essential oils to your dog’s food or drinking water
- avoid using essential oils with puppies under 10 weeks of age – use hydrosols instead.
When offering essential oils to your dog, you want to first pre-select 3-5 essential oils from the safe list below, which you believe to be the most effective for the issue that needs addressing. There are often several essential oils which can be beneficial, and allowing your dog to choose which one specifically will ensure you do not go wrong.
Allow your dog to sniff the closed bottle (remember, dogs have an incredible sense of smell and even when the bottle is closed, this is enough for them) and once you know which one(s) your dog prefers, you can then dilute accordingly.
Essential oils safe to use with dogs.
Here is a list of essential oils that are known to be safe for use around dogs according to the essential oil animal experts.
- Angelica Root Angelica archangelica
- Basil (linalool chemotype) Ocimum basilicum ct. linalool
- Bergamot Citrus bergamia, Citrus aurantium subspecies bergamia
- Black Pepper Piper nigrum
- Cajeput Melaleuca cajuputi
- Caraway Carum carvi
- Cardamom Elatteria cardamomum
- Carrot Seed Daucus carota, Daucus carota subspecies sativa
- Chamomile (German) Matricaria chamomilla, Matricaria recutita, Chamomilla recutita
- Chamomile (Roman) Anthemis nobilis, Chamaemelum nobile
- Cinnamon Leaf Cinnamomum verum, Cinnamomum zeylanicum
- Cistus Cistus ladanifer, Cistus ladaniferus
- Citronella Cymbopogon winterianus, Cymbopogon nardus
- Coriander Coriandrum sativum
- Cypress Cupressus sempervirens
- Elemi Canarium luzonicum, Canarium vulgare
- Eucalyptus Eucalyptus radiata (this is the species specified, but the other species have the same safety issues)
- Fennel (Sweet) Foeniculum vulgare
- Frankincense Boswellia carterii (this is the species specified, but the other species have the same safety issues, with the exception of Boswellia papyfera which is not recommended to use during pregnancy for humans)
- Geranium Pelargonium graveolens, Pelargonium x asperum
- Ginger Zingiber officinale
- Grapefruit Citrus paradisi
- Helichrysum Helichrysum italicum (this is the species specified, but Helichrysum splendidum has similar properties and therefore also should be safe to use)
- Juniper Berry Juniperus communis
- Lavender Lavender angustifolia, Lavender officinalis
- Lemon Citrus limon, Citrus limonum
- Lemongrass Cymbopogon flexuosus, Andropogon flexuosus, Cymbopogon citratus, Andropogon citratus
- Mandarin Citrus reticulata, Citrus nobilis
- Marjoram (Sweet) Origanum marjorana, Marjorana hortensis, Origanum dubium
- Melissa Melissa officinalis
- Myrrh Commiphora myrrha, Commiphora molmol
- Neroli Citrus x aurantium
- Niaouli Melaleuca quinquinervia
- Nutmeg Myristica fragrans, Myristica moschata, Myristica aromatica, Myristica amboinensis
- Opopanax Commiphora erythraea, Commiphora guidottii
- Orange (Sweet, Blood) Citrus sinensis, Citrus aurantium var. sinensis
- Palmarosa Cymbopogon martinii, Andropogon martinii var martinii, Cymbopogon martinii var motia
- Patchouli Pogostemon cablin, Pogostemon patchouly
- Peppermint Mentha piperita
- Petitgrain Citrus aurantium
- Plai Zingiber cassumunar, Zingiber montanum, Amomum montanum, Zingiber purpureum
- Rosalina Melaleuca ericifolia
- Rose (Bulgarian, Damask) Rosa damascena (this is the species specified, but it’s actually the Rose which needs the most dilution, so it stands to reason the other Rose species are also safe)
- Rosemary Rosmarinus officinalis
- Sandalwood Santalum spicatum, Santalum album
- Spearmint Mentha spicata, Mentha cardiaca, Mentha crispa, Mentha viridis
- Spikenard Nardostachys grandiflora
- Tangerine Citrus reticulata, Citrus nobilis, Citrus tangerine
- Tea Tree Melaleuca alternifolia
- Thyme (linalool chemotype) Thymus vulgaris ct. linalool
- Valerian Valeriana officinalis
- Vanilla Vanilla planifolia, Vanilla fragrans, Vanilla tahitensis
- Vetiver Vetiveria zizanoides, Andropogon muricatus, Andropogon zizanoides, Chrysopogon zizanoides, Phalaris zizanoides
- Yarrow Achillea millefolium
- Ylang Ylang Cananga odorata, Cananga odorata genuine
Knowing how much to dilute for inhalation and topical use.
Essential oils must always be diluted before using topically or offering them to your dog to inhale when using as a remedy. Although dilution guidelines may differ depending on the individual essential oil and issue that needs addressing, the general rule of thumb for dogs is to use a 1% dilution for emotional issues, and a 2-3% dilution for physical issues.
Please note that physical issues don’t always require topical application. Inhalation can be effective for pain control and wound healing.
Information for this article has been obtained from www.learningabouteos.com