Pets and Essential Oils
A list of a few oils that are toxic to pets
I have always had some type of pet; dogs, cats, parakeets, finches, cockatoo, or fish. When I was two or three, Dad got me a black & tan hound he named Snoopy. That dog followed me everywhere. Counting my current rescue dogs, I have had no less than 10 dogs, and heaven knows how many cats, in my 57 years.
Betty and Bob White are my current house dogs. We adopted Betty November 26, 2021. She is a white Boxer, roughly 11 years old, but it is difficult to know because she was found stray, and almost dead.
We just adopted Bob on July 5, this year. The rescue said he was a Boxer. Bob is no where near a Boxer. I don’t know what he is, but Boxer isn’t it. Bob has boy dog smell. Even after being neutered. So, I use an automatic air freshener in the living room. Sometimes I run a diffuser with essential oils.
During the holiday season, it is tempting to use a lot of pine or citrus scents in the home. If you have pets, please do a little research on what essential oils are safe for dogs and cats. The list is quite short.
According to Pet Poison Helpline the following essential oils are listed as being poisonous to dogs. :
Melaleuca oil, also known as tea tree oil
Pennyroyal
Wintergreen
Eastern Teaberry
Pine Oils
The list for cats is much longer and includes:
wintergreen,
oil of sweet birch,
citrus oil (d-limonene),
pine oils,
Ylang Ylang oil,
peppermint oil,
cinnamon oil,
pennyroyal oil,
clove oil,
eucalyptus oil, and
tea tree oil.
There are more so be sure to check with your veterinarian or do a web search, reading reliable sources.
Personally, cinnamon oil locks my lungs up. This time of year there are cinnamon coated pine cones everywhere. Our local farm market has a hut set up outside with handcrafted items. I wanted to shop there the other day, but the cinnamon hit me like a sledgehammer when I opened the door. I couldn’t go in. I coughed for about 10 minutes.