Which Essential Oils Are Bad for Cats?
If you’ve searched for some natural pest solutions, you’ve probably come across essential oils. Pest experts recommend using essential oils in your daily pest control all the time.
Aside from smelling nice, essential oils can be used for effective home remedies. Despite essential oils being a natural solution, they are quite powerful against pests. However, a lot of essential oils can be potentially harmful to cats.
It’s important to know what essential oils are bad for your cat, as they can be poisoned from essential oils. Even though they’re natural, essential oils aren’t always safe for everyone. Essential oils can be lethal and poisonous to cats, as they are particularly sensitive to their effects.
A lot of vets don’t recommend using essential oils directly on your pet. Always listen to your vet and follow their instructions before using essential oils around your cat. Even defusing certain essential oils can have negative effects on your furry one. Always proceed with caution when using any new product on your animals. Today, we’re going to share which essential oils you should avoid using around your cat.
Why Are Essential Oils Bad for My Cat?
Essential oils are created from plant extracts. This is why they’re considered a natural solution.
Essential oil fragrances are quite powerful, and chemically have a lot of fatty acids. Thankfully, this makes them the perfect solution for pest control.
The strong fragrance repels pests, and the fatty acids deteriorate exoskeletons. However, strong fragrances can be irritating to your pet. Remember their little noses are a lot strong than ours! And the high amounts of fatty acids are harmful to their skin, causing burns and irritation.
Despite essential oils being a natural product, it does not mean they are completely safe.
Even essential oils on humans can be harmful when ingested or used directly on skin. Always look for adverse reactions on yourself and pets if you do use essential oils. When using safer essential oils around your pet, be sure to:
- Use with caution and look for negative reactions
- Research possible reactions to the oils
- Ask your vet for guidance and advice
- Never use pure oils directly on your pet
Although essential oils are natural, they are powerful. Thankfully, it means that they do work to an extent, but they can work a little too well on our pets.
Which Essential Oils Harm Cats?
If you want to find out more about what reactions your pet can have to essential oils, check out our page on pest control ingredients. Cats are particularly sensitive to essential oils. Most animal experts do not recommend using essential oils around your cat. The following is a list of essential oils that are poisonous to cats:
- Bergamot
- Bitter almond
- Cinnamon
- Clary Sage
- Clove
- Eucalyptus
- European Pennyroyal
- Geranium oil
- Horseradish
- Japanese yew
- Lemongrass
- Mint
- Mustard
- Orange oils
- Oregano
- Pennyroyal
- Pine, spruce, juniper oils
- Rose
- Rosemary
- Sandalwood
- Sassafras
- Tea tree (melaleuca)
- Thyme
- Wormseed
- Ylang Ylang
What Essential Oils are Good for Cats?
Lavender has shown to be somewhat beneficial to cats, however, you should proceed with caution. Before using any essential oils on or around your cat, ask your vet about what essential oils are safest to use around your cat, and how you should use them.
Despite some oils being safe to use around your cat, you should always follow your vet’s directions. Essential oils are powerful, which makes them useful to fight pests. However, if you do decide to use essential oils for your pest control needs, be sure to use caution around your cats.
