Essential Oils and Cats: A Misunderstood Conception. 4th November 2011 by Caroline Ingraham
Recently there has been a ban on using essential oils with cats amoungst some influential rescue centers. This ban is the result of many websites making statements along the lines of essential oil toxicity in cats, stating that essential oils should never be used with them. Unfortunately, these websites do not cite their sources (which is a reliable indicator of an unsubstantiated claim).
An extensive publication search brings up just three reports on essential toxicity to cats; two involved the use of tea tree, the third with potpourri . The papers imply that the oils were taken orally or applied topically although the papers note that they cannot be certain whether the cause was accidental or not. There are no reports on the toxicity of other essential oils with cats and not even a mention in two popular veterinary toxicology handbooks; . There are plenty of mentions of toxic household plants but none feature in the applied zoopharmacognocist’s kit.
The concern with cats over other species is more theoretical than actual. The issue is that cats have very low gluconryl transferase activity, an enzyme involved with breaking down some foreign chemicals including alcohols and, more importantly, phenols . There are only a small number of essential oils that contain high levels of phenols, the most commonly used being clove, cinnamon, wintergreen, yellow birch and the phenol rich chemotypes of thyme. In our experience and the experience of our students, cats have never selected these oils (or tea tree for that matter) except for thyme on one occasion. In the case of thyme, there were no negative effects recorded. Phenols are also in many detergents, disinfectants, which are all used without consideration in everyday life.
Almost invariably cats will select essential oils through inhalation and will almost never select them orally. Some websites claim that allowing cats to inhale is also risky; again there is no evidence to suggest there is a risk, especially if the oil is offered in well ventilated areas and the cat is free to remove itself from the odour.
