Lavender essential oil is distilled from particular Lavandula species flower spikes or the herbs, and each species will have a different scented oil slightly. You can go for the lavender flower oil, which is colorless and insoluble in water, or the lavender spike oil from L. latifolia.
These oils have cosmetics applications (balms, salves, soaps, shampoos, and so on) and perfumery industry, aromatherapy, making massage oils, and skin application.
We know lavender essential oil has various benefits. For instance, when used in aromatherapy, the fragrance may promote calmness, wellness, reduce stress, anxiety, and manage mild pain.
It will also help minimize dementia in adults, deal with certain side effects of cancer treatment, treat headaches, nervousness, and restlessness. Similarly, combining this oil with rose and sage and using it topically may minimize cramps during menstruation.
Despite all these benefits, if you have cats, dogs, or even horses, you need to know more about lavender oil toxicity. You know the lavender plant is toxic to cats. What about the essential oil?
Is it safe for cats?
No. Lavender oil is not safe for cats and shouldn’t be ingested, inhaled, or even come to contact with your cat’s skin because it has linalool and linalyl acetate 20-35% and 30-55%of the essential oil’s composition.
These two phytochemicals are also toxic to dogs and horses. We want to point out that the linalool and linalyl acetate’s higher concentrationmakes lavender essential oil lethal.
Besides being ingested, since vaporized quickly, it will get absorbed via the lungs to the bloodstream and liver when inhaled. Similarly, when it comes in contact with your cat’s skin, it gets rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream and end up in the liver. When it goes to the cat’s liver, it will cause liver damage since cats cannot metabolize it, hence the toxicity.
Therefore, it is not safe to diffusing lavender oil around your cats as your cats shouldn’t inhale diffused lavender oil fumes. Also, avoid liquid potpourri products, candles, and room sprays with or using this essential oil.
Similarly, don’t topically use any product with lavender essential oil or pet them after touching the oil.
While lavender scented products may not have enough of the essential oil to cause harm, we recommend that you wash your hand after using them and store them well to avoid accidental ingestion.
Toxicity symptoms
The exact symptoms of toxicity will depend on how it got into your cat’s body. If ingested, expect symptoms such as:
- Nausea and vomiting
- Reduced appetite
- Drooling
- Face and mouth pawing
- Redness or burns on their tongue, gum, mouth
- Tremors
in addition to some of the above symptoms, if inhaled, it may cause breathing difficulties, i.e., it is not safe for cats to breathe. Wheezing and sneezing, while you should expect redness or skin burn if it comes in contact with your cat’s skin.
If you suspect your cat has ingested, inhaled, or come in contact with lavender, check for any of the signs mentioned above and immediately seek help from your vet or call any animal poison control helpline ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center if you notice any.
Meanwhile, if the oil came in contact with their skin, consider bathing them using a mild cat shampoo. However, don’t Induce vomiting or giving your cats activate charcoal as this may worsen things.
Instead, place the oil or product with the oil inside a sealed plastic bag take it along as you take your cat to the vet.
Lavender aromatherapy and cats
While most electronic aromatherapy diffusers or humidifiers produce a minimal lavender concentration in the air, it may still cause distress to your cat or even dog. Similarly, any droplets that fall on your cat may get licked as she grooms, and Texas A&M University’s Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences warns that “the inhalation of these oils can cause a foreign body pneumonia in cats.”
Therefore, to avoid toxicity, get a sealed, separate room for aromatherapy, which your cats cannot access. Also, lockup any product that has this oil, including your cosmetics like lotions.
Additionally, consider going for safer essential oils in your liquid potpourris or during aromatherapy. This requires the help of your vet. He or she will also advise you on how to use it to avoid harming your pets.
While ASPCA gives a clean bill of health to plants such as basil, fennel, hibiscus, jasmine, lemon balm, sage, and roses, there is no reference to their safety essential oils. Avoid them too since the concentration of the various compounds in plants and the oil or liquid extract isn’t the same
Other oils to avoid
Whether for use in your liquid potpourris or diffusers, note that the following essential oils are toxic, harmful, and dangerous to cats too if ingested for comes in contact with your cat’s skin.
- Bergamot
- Chamomile
- Cinnamon
- Citrus
- Citrus
- Clove leaf
- Eucalyptus
- Geranium
- Juniper
- Lemongrass
- Mint
- Pennyroyal
- Pine
- Rose
- Rosemary
- Sandalwood
- Sassafras
- Sweet birch
- Tea tree
- Wintergreen
- Ylang Ylang
This list is not exhaustive. We highly encourage you to involve your vet before trying any essential oil.
Be cautious
Lavender essential oil isn’t all that awesome since some products such as shampoos and soaps have been linked to breast enlargement in young boys. Also, they may cause contact dermatitis as well as sedative effects.
Similarly, lavender cases accounted for 6.1% of essential oil poisoning cases in Australia between 2014-2018.