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Scented oil candles and cats

post #1 of 8
3/28/11 at 5:16pm
Thread Starter 
Does anyone know if it is safe to use scented oil candles in a room frequented by cats? Cindy and Bella are sensible enough to not try and ingest it but I was wondering whether simply inhaling the scent could cause problems like ulcers?
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post #2 of 8
3/28/11 at 5:56pm
Hi there. I personally wouldn't use them with cats in the room. I do know essential oils are not good for cats to inhale as they are extremely sensitive to the aromas. If it smells very strong to us, it smells a lot stronger to our cats
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post #3 of 8
3/30/11 at 12:57pm
Thread Starter 
Hi there,

Thanks for the reply. I have a feeling that they are the cause of Cindy's eye ulcers so I've put them all away for now. I'm really hoping that they were the cause as it means that she won't have to suffer them anymore
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post #4 of 8
3/30/11 at 1:49pm
Fragrance oils and essential oils are not good for cats, they are very sensitive to them because their livers are unable to process the compounds in the oils and exposure (whether ingested, topical or inhaled) can cause liver damage over time.
So I would avoid using scented candles as well as other scented products like plug-ins.
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post #5 of 8
3/30/11 at 1:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Feralvr View Post
Hi there. I personally wouldn't use them with cats in the room. I do know essential oils are not good for cats to inhale as they are extremely sensitive to the aromas. If it smells very strong to us, it smells a lot stronger to our cats


Quote:
Originally Posted by Pui Hang View Post
Hi there,

Thanks for the reply. I have a feeling that they are the cause of Cindy's eye ulcers so I've put them all away for now. I'm really hoping that they were the cause as it means that she won't have to suffer them anymore
I hope so too. But if she doesn't improve, she may have the herpes virus. Or some other problem. Have you had her to the vet?
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post #6 of 8
3/30/11 at 3:17pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by otto View Post
I hope so too. But if she doesn't improve, she may have the herpes virus. Or some other problem. Have you had her to the vet?
Yes, she goes to the vet whenever I don't think she is behaving normally. Since September 2010 she has had about 4 eye ulcers - each time, it's the alternate eye i.e. September, it was her left eye, October it was her right eye, January it was her left eye, February it was her right eye.

When she had the last one, she got tested for Chlamydia, Herpes, Celici, they took biopsies to test for viral and bacteria. Everything came back negative so the vet is convinced that something in our house has changed or we have introduced something new. Fighting with Bella has also been ruled out because there are no signs of scratches on the cornea.

We've agreed that if she gets another eye ulcer, she's going straight to a feline eye specialist because they are occurring far too frequently.
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post #7 of 8
3/31/11 at 4:28am
I stay away from open flame candles. I think the risk of fire is just as important as the smell.

I have a cinnamon oil that I will put on a heat source ....heat vent, light bulb. Used sparingly, it gives just a hint of fragrance. My kitties have no adverse reactions to it.
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post #8 of 8
3/31/11 at 6:04am
I don't know if it would cause that eye ulcer or not. It may just be coincidental. However if you burn enough candles you'll have everything left over from the candles build up on all the surfaces... my FIL always talks about the air filters in homes of people that burn a lot of candles being black with it. Yuck. Can you imagine that on everything in your home and in your lungs?

Anytime you burn or heat anything you're more likely to see issues from it being inhaled. In this house we have three cats with chronic bronchitis, a person with asthma, and myself with some odd airway sensitivity (stuff like candles sends me into an horrible coughing fit). So we all see how bad they are for our lungs pretty quickly. I actually suggest that no one burns or heats anything like this in the home.
There are some safer alternatives like boiling/heating a bit of cinnamon, orange peel, vanilla, etc on the stove.
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