“I Don’t Believe in Chemicals”

In our last piece, you heard me carping about essential oils and how they can make your pet ill. These exposures aren’t extremely common, but when they do happen, it is usually the result of undiluted product being applied by an uneducated person. Usually the owner of the pet. After such a highly concentrated exposure, the outcome can be devastating: vomiting, confusion, loss of coordination, and seizures may be followed by liver failure. Death is, of course, a possibility. Ironically, I hear the most about the perceived safety of these products from clients who are reluctant to use conventional parasite medications on their pets. They feel much more confident choosing a substance that came from nature. You know, like cyanide.

Okay, okay...all carping aside, there are some relatively innocuous ways to use these products. Essential oils tend to be well-tolerated by full-grown humans (although not by infants or pets), so you could use them on yourself; just remember that this may pose a serious threat to pets that lick your skin.

The most toxic oils for pets include camphor, pennyroyal, hyssop, clove, wintergreen, and melaleuca (tea tree) varieties. Most veterinarians would not recommend that something like this be applied directly to your pet. It is, however, generally considered reasonable for dog and cat owners to occasionally scent the home with a passive diffuser (i.e., simple evaporation into the air), as long as the concentrated product can never be accessed by the pet. An animal with pre-existing respiratory issues such as asthma or chronic bronchitis would be the exception, since some airway irritation can be incited even by a passive/evaporative diffuser. Active diffusers employ pressurized air or electric current to launch millions of tiny droplets aloft, contaminating the pet’s coat and causing substantial amounts to be ingested during grooming. Cats are especially vulnerable due to their attentive hair-care routines and an intrinsically poor ability to detoxify even modestly threatening substances.

Birds are far more sensitive to air quality than dogs and cats, which is what historically led to their unenviable position in the coal industry. A very thin respiratory membrane means they’re easily poisoned by air contaminants released by nail polish, hair spray, cleaning supplies, non-stick cookware, and self-cleaning ovens, as well as anything that produces smoke. Essential oils should thus never be used, even to perfume the air, in a household with pet birds.

One of the nastiest essential oil recipes is liquid potpourri. This is particularly troublesome because it’s often simmered in an uncovered container and frequently comes mixed with cationic detergents, which are highly caustic. When that concoction is licked off the fur, tissues of the mouth and esophagus burn painfully and slough, creating horrible open sores (in addition to the toxic effects of the oil).

Sloughing tongue tissue, liver failure, and seizures comprise a pretty grim picture that is really of no interest to the adverse event database at the FDA. If you’ve ever been tempted to forego “chemicals” in favor of something that came directly from the benevolent hand of Mother Nature, remember to take a realistic view of how much more or less toxic they may be.

Dr M.S. Regan