Ask the Editor: Is It Safe to Diffuse Oils Around My Cat?

The question: “I have just adopted a cat. Do I need to give up my diffuser, or is there a safe way to keep using it?”

Congratulations on the new arrival. We hear this question about essential oils at home more than almost any other, so it felt like the right one to answer first. The short version is that you may not have to give your diffuser up, but you do need to change how you use it. Some homes are better off without one, especially homes with a cat that has breathing problems.

Why cats are a special case

Cats process many plant compounds differently from dogs and people. Veterinarians at Pet Poison Helpline explain that cats lack an important liver enzyme. Without it, they struggle to break down and clear some of the compounds found in essential oils. Cats are also very sensitive to phenols, a group of compounds that several oils contain.

Essential oils are absorbed quickly, both through the mouth and through the skin. Cats also groom themselves often, so anything that lands on their fur soon ends up swallowed.

That is why concentration matters most. Pet Poison Helpline and the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center both stress that undiluted oil is the main danger. That includes a cat walking through a spill, brushing against a bottle or having oil put on it directly. The ASPCA notes that with some oils a handful of drops can be enough to cause problems. With concentrated tea tree oil, for example, seven or eight drops may affect a pet.

Which oils come up most

Pet Poison Helpline lists these essential oils as known to cause poisoning in cats:

• wintergreen and sweet birch
• citrus oils (the d-limonene in orange, lemon and grapefruit)
• pine oils
• ylang-ylang
• peppermint
• cinnamon and clove
• pennyroyal
• eucalyptus
• tea tree (melaleuca)

An oil missing from this list is not proven safe. Lavender, for instance, is not on it, but you still should not put the concentrated oil on a cat. To check a particular bottle, use our oil safety lookup. It filters every oil we cover by its cat and dog cautions.

Not all diffusers are equal

Most advice skips this part. Pet Poison Helpline sorts diffusers into two groups, and the difference matters for anyone running an essential oil diffuser with a cat in the house.

Passive diffusers let the oil evaporate. Reed diffusers, plug-in warmers, candle burners, fan diffusers and scented jewelry all belong here. As long as the oil is not spilled on your cat and your cat does not chew the device, the main risk is breathing irritation from a strong smell.

Active diffusers include ultrasonic and nebulizing models. They send tiny droplets of oil into the air along with the scent. If your cat is close enough, those droplets can settle on its fur. From there they can be absorbed through the skin or swallowed during grooming.

Here is a quick way to tell which kind you have. If yours mixes oil with water and puffs out a visible mist, it is an ultrasonic model, so it belongs in the active group.

What the poison-control services suggest

The ASPCA’s poison-control team does not tell owners to throw their diffusers away. Its view is that using an oil diffuser for a short time, in a secured area your cat cannot reach, is not likely to cause problems. For diffusing essential oils around cats, that comes down to six habits:

1. Diffuse behind a closed door. Choose a room your cat cannot get into, rather than a shared living space.
2. Keep sessions short. Half an hour is plenty to scent a room; that figure is our own rule of thumb.
3. Make it hard to knock over. Place the diffuser where it cannot tip, and keep bottles capped and put away.
4. Air the room afterward. Open a window before your cat comes back in.
5. Skip it for sensitive cats. If your cat has asthma, allergies or any breathing condition, leave the diffuser off. Pet Poison Helpline notes that cats with these problems face a greater risk of severe reactions. So do cats exposed to cigarette smoke.
6. Never put oils on your cat. That includes “natural” flea remedies made with essential oils.

If you share your home with birds as well, the ASPCA advises against using an essential oil diffuser in the house at all.

Signs to watch for

Pet Poison Helpline lists these possible signs, depending on the oil and the dose: drooling, vomiting, tremors, wobbliness, difficulty breathing, a low heart rate and low body temperature. In severe cases, a cat can develop liver failure.

Breathing trouble in a cat can look like panting or fast, labored breathing. It can also look like a crouched cough, which many owners mistake for a hairball attempt that brings nothing up.

If you see any of these signs, move your cat into fresh air at once and call your veterinarian. Two animal poison lines also answer around the clock, and a consultation fee may apply:

• ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center: (888) 426-4435
• Pet Poison Helpline: (855) 764-7661

Our answer

Keep your diffuser if it matters to you, but move it. Use it in a room your cat cannot enter, keep sessions short and choose oils that are not on the list above. Store the bottles where curious paws cannot reach them.

If your cat is elderly, unwell or has breathing problems, give the diffuser a rest for now. Candles and room sprays raise similar questions, so it makes sense to pause those too. Our five-step evening edit works perfectly well with the diffuser step left out, and your cat can join you for all of it.