PDSA issues warning to cat owners about dangers of essential oils

While essential oils can have benefits for humans, they could cause harm to our feline friends, warns the PDSA.

PDSA Vet Nurse Nina Downing explains: “Essential oils may have benefits to us humans, whether it’s to try help us sleep, treat our skin or simply make the house smell nice. But what may be good for us isn’t always good for our feline friends!”

How could your cat come into contact with essential oils at home?

If you are a cat owner that uses essential oils at home, there are three ways your cat could come into contact with them.

Essential oils can be harmful to cats (Image: Canva)

Direct skin contact

You should never apply essential oils to your cat’s skin as this can cause a bad reaction and even a few drops can be extremely toxic to your cat.

Cats clean and groom themselves regularly so they’re also at risk of licking it off and accidentally ingesting it.

Eaten or swallowed

By nature, cats are curious and if they come across essential oils in their home, they might be tempted to drink the liquid, for example, from reed diffusers.

Inhaled

Toxic effects from inhalation are rare because the essential oils used in reed diffusers or plugins are quite diluted.

However, the risk can be greater for cats with certain medical conditions like asthma or if you are considering using nebulised or ultrasonically diffused neat essential oils.

There are a few ways you can prevent your cat coming into contact with essential oils (Image: Canva)

What are the symptoms of essential oil poisoning?

These are the symptoms to look out for if you think your cat has essential oil poisoning:

• Excessive dribbling
• Vomiting
• Shaking and tremoring
• Walking as if they’re drunk
• Lethargy, depression or dullness
• Difficulty breathing and breathing with their mouth open like they are panting
• Collapse and seizures

PDSA Vet Nurse Nina Downing added that you might notice your cat has sore or red skin or even chemical burns on the skin if they have had skin contact with essential oil.

If you don’t notice any visible damage to their skin, this doesn’t mean they are fine as they could’ve ingested essential oil without skin contact or it could have a delayed effect.

You should contact your vet immediately if you think your cat has been in contact with essential oil, even if they aren’t showing any symptoms (Image: Getty Images)

You should contact your vet immediately if you think your cat has been in contact with essential oil, even if they aren’t showing any symptoms.

Your vet might find it helpful to know which essential oil your cat has come into contact with and what concentration it is so take the packaging to your vet appointment if possible.

You can find out more about cats and essential oils via the PDSA website.

How to prevent essential oil poisoning

If you want to keep using essential oils without causing harm to your cat, there are a few ways you can reduce the risk of poisoning.

Make sure all essential oils are out of reach of your cat – a locked cupboard could be a good idea.

Don’t touch your cat after using essential oils. Wash your hands thoroughly before touching your cat if you have come into contact with the oil.

Avoid using essential oils for cleaning as cats like to rub against everything and could easily come into contact with the oil.

If you use essential oils for yourself, try to make sure they are diluted first and keep them out of reach of your cat.

If you use reed diffusers, plugin diffusers or a nebuliser for essential oils, try to keep your cat out of those particular rooms. Make sure any space where you’ve had essential oils diffusing into the air is well-ventilated before letting your cat back in.

Use a prescription flea product because essential oils aren’t very well regulated and some manufacturers can put them in products for pets. It’s common that over-the-counter flea treatments can contain an essential oil to help “repel” fleas.

These are potentially less effective than other flea treatments and may be a risk to your pet – PDSA recommends getting advice from your vet on the safest and most reliable flea treatment for your pet.