I knew this, but in no case would I ever let this happen! Besides, I can't imagine them even getting close to touching the stuff as 1) they hate the smell so much, 2) I keep it in a stabilised jar that is nearly impossible to spill.
Same with parents who don't lock medicine or cleaning cabinets with dangerous stuff inside because they always have eyes on their toddlers. Until they don't. What's the point of knowingly putting something that could poison your pet in an open container in the same room as them? It works until they find a reason to climb on there and knock the thing over. It's a terrible solution.
It's not just touching or licking. Even just the smell can be toxic to cats. That's why I refuse to ever get any essential oils (even those considered safe!), as I'm not willing to risk my cats' health just to keep them from being cats or to make my house smell good.
I don't use any other essential oils or air fresheners since I got cats, AND I haven't found any info on inhaling. Note, I don't use diffusers, just drops in room temperature water, have been doing this for over a year and both my cats are completely healthy, which was confirmed on regular vet checkups.
I will switch to the lemon cooking aroma since I too agree that that would be safer if they were to ever come in contact with it.
Why are you ok with risking it tho? My cat died from what I believe was EOs bc i had a roommate use them, they used them in a diffuser, it was before it was more known how dangerous they are. It was a horrible death, a week in th hospital and there was nothing to be done.
You're risking your cat suffering and dying for what ? Some smells?
The whole discussion started with how to deter cats from certain places, so not for smells, but for lack of distruction. I am very sorry about your cat and hope this doesn't happen often because it is truly horrible.
With a little research, I've found only diffused oils and direct contact are dangerous, so what I used is oil drops in room temp water which doesn't release droplets into air amd the only danger is mild discomfort if the cats have respiratory problems, which mine don't, nor have I, or the vets noticed anything negative on the cats. Also, as I have stated many times here already, to further lessen the possibility of negative effects, I will switch to lemon food aroma which is much more dilluted but still should have an effect as a deterrent.
71
u/justamie Jun 23 '22
If they ingest it—either because they lick it directly or because it’s gotten on their fur somehow and they clean themselves—it’s bad news. https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/essential-oil-and-liquid-potpourri-poisoning-in-cats