Essential oil diffuser. Will my cat be ok?

[spats]

Hi everyone! I recently got an essential oil diffuser as a gift and without thinking much I used it over the past week for a few hours each day, trying different oils. It's the kind you put a few drops in mixed with water.

This is before I realized it could be toxic to for my cat which I just found out today. I immediately turned the diffuser off. Although I used it for a long time each day, the good thing is I had the window open and fan on most of the time so my apartment was fairly well-ventilated.

My cat's not showing any symptoms and seems fine but I'm worried for her. Short of going to the vet for a check-up do you think there's anything else I need to worry about? Anything I should do for her in the meantime (besides turn the diffuser off)? What are your experiences using diffusers/essential oils around cats?

 

[Talien]

As long as she isn't actually ingesting the oils she should be ok, but if she shows any signs of trying to get at the diffuser you'd probably want to remove it.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi! Longer term use of diffusers are a bigger problem in that the cat inhales them into their lungs. So, for just a short period of time, it probably won't be an issue - certainly not one to cause you to take your cat to a vet, especially if she is doing fine otherwise.

I am not familiar with what essential oil diffusers are OK for cats, but you could probably do an internet search and see what you find.

 

[spats]

Thanks both! Fortunately, she didn't seem interested in the diffuser or the oils so she wasn't sniffing or ingesting any of it, though it was being used in the same room with her. I did see that some oils are believed to be safe for cats but even though I'm grateful for the gift, I'd rather not take the risk. Can't believe even after being a cat owner for 11 years, never occurred to me those things could be toxic! I thought of it as being like an air freshener. Anyway, I'm leaving the window open so she gets lots of fresh air.

 

[daftcat75]

A side effect / side benefit (if you can call it that) of the past few wildfires in Northern California is that they forced me to buy one of those geeky Dyson air purifiers. I got one with the smart app control and sensors and graphs and such. One of the reasons the smoke from these fires was so brutal is that they contain lots of fine particles that are small enough to reach deep into the lungs and cross the capillary barrier into the bloodstream. Some of these fine particles can disrupt the blood-brain barrier. On the Dyson, the sensor is the PM25 (or particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns.) I did my own experiment with these sensors at home and an essential oil diffuser. It turns out that the vapor that comes out of these essential oil diffusors contains these same fine particulates (PM2.5) that are small enough to reach the bloodstream. That's scary stuff. That means it is not just a risk to their lungs but also to their livers and kidneys which have to detoxify and excrete these substance in the blood. I would avoid the diffusers altogether including the plugin and aerosol air fresheners too. I would also recommend a HEPA filter. These will pull these fine particulates out of the air. You don't need to buy a Dyson. Hamilton Beach makes a very affordable HEPA filter that is whisper quiet.