There has been a lot of chat lately about the use of lavender essential oil for fleas on cats. And yes, lavender essential oil contains a chemical called linalool, which can be toxic to fleas and ticks. Sadly, it doesn’t necessarily mean you can use it as an at home treatment. Lavender plants aren’t just toxic to bugs and mites, they can be dangerous to your precious kitty too.
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What is Lavender Essential Oil?
Lavender oil has been used in medicine and aromatherapy for years, with varying degrees of success. Its treatment of anxiety in humans has been the focus of numerous studies and trials. Essential oils are concentrated solutions of the chemicals found in a plant. As such, anything potentially harmful in the original ingredient will be even more potent.
Fleas on Cats
Cat fleas are small parasitic insects that most owners struggle with at some point in their cat’s life. They live deep in your cat’s fur, and survive by drinking your cat’s blood. So, it makes sense that people will try almost anything to get rid of them!
There are a lot of flea treatments on the pet market that try to deal with the problem. It ranges from essential oils like lavender oil, to collars and shampoos. But, just because a product claims to work, doesn’t mean it always does. And, it doesn’t automatically mean it’s safe for your cat.
Does Lavender Essential Oil Get Rid of Fleas on Cats?
Lavender essential oil has been shown to kill pests and parasites such as fleas and ticks. A study published in the journal of medical entomology showed its ability to kill all life stages of fleas and ticks. This makes it possible that after coming into contact with lavender oil, cats fleas might be effectively controlled.
However… the chemical that has an effect on these pests can also be toxic to cats, in the right concentration. So yes, you might get rid of the fleas by using lavender oil. But you could also end up with a very sick cat.
How Does Lavender Oil Work?
Lavender essential oil contains a chemical called linalool. Linalool can make up as much as 49.47% of essential lavender oil. So, the same chemical that makes lavender oil potentially dangerous to your cat could make it a potent flea poison. Linalool is not only toxic to cats, but in the right concentration effectively kills pests.
Linalool solutions have been used in tests to successfully treat cats with fleas. The cats involved exhibited no adverse effects afterwards. But, when it comes to home blended or unregulated lavender oil, cats might not be so lucky.
This is because lavender oil is not consistent. From batch to batch it can differ hugely in composition. So finding the right concentration of linalool in a domestic setting would be almost impossible, not to mention dangerous.
Is Lavender Essential Oil Safe for Cats?
To answer the question ‘is lavender oil safe for cats’ we need to define what we mean by safe. Safe when applied topically? Or safe taken orally? Safe to inhale as a mist? All of these can have different answers.
Lavender plants are toxic to cats. Symptoms of lavender poisoning include nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite. These are not things any of us want to inflict on our furry friends.
A dangerous concentration of linalool only becomes more of a risk when the lavender is presented in oil form. Around 220 pounds of lavender are used to make one pound of oil.
Natural Does Not Necessarily Mean Safe
It’s easy to think that because a product is natural, it should be safe for your pet. Sadly, this is often untrue. A great number of plants contain chemicals that could harm your cat. This becomes a serious concern when the chemicals are concentrated into an oil.
Concentrations can vary depending on the lavender itself, or the method of processing. So you can never be sure what you’re exposing your cat to.
Potential Problems
There’s not been a lot of research into cats and lavender oil, when applied to their fur. We know it can produce skin irritation and allergic reactions in humans and rats. It’s probably best to wait until we know more before you go rubbing it into your cats coat.
It’s also important to remember that cats clean themselves regularly. Anything applied to your pet’s fur may find its way to their mouth in no time at all! Any lavender essential oil cats accidentally ingest, would expose them to linalool.
So glad I read this information about lavender…. I contemplated using lavender oil to help my stressed kitty…
Thank goodness I didn’t. Thanks for info
Hi Lesley,
No problem, I’m glad you found it useful!
So would you say that Lavender use through Essential Oil Diffuser is also bad for cats or is the concentration so low that it doesn’t have any impact since it is a drop or 2 of oil for about a cup of water?
Hi John,
Thanks for the comment. You’re right in pointing out that diffused essential oil is fairly weak. If it’s used occasionally it shouldn’t have any negative effects, but I can’t guarantee that it won’t. There isn’t any research to draw on, and the main dangers we hit on in the article are to do with direct exposure or ingestion.
Anecdotes are split on cats loving or hating the smell. If the latter is true it might make your cat a bit reluctant to come into the room where you’re using it.
If you’re using lavender oil for aromatherapy for yourself, I’d say carry on. If you’re expecting it to have a positive effect on your cat you may well be disappointed, as I can’t really find evidence it will have any effect at all. If your cat starts acting strange or avoiding the room you use it in it might be best to stop.
Let me know if you have any more questions,
Tom
What do you think about using lavender essential oils for laundry that your cat may come in contact with? I recently bought some wool dryer balls and the instructions mention adding essential oils to the balls prior to putting in with your laundry. My cat sometimes like to sit in the warm laundry as we’re folding it (though recently he prefers his pet bed warmers — hah!). Do you think this would affect him? Or what about sitting on our bed that has had sheets dried with the balls that have lavender on them? What are your thoughts?
So you’re saying not to use lavender oil in a diffuser? My friend just sent me one and she suggested lavender oil because it helps you sleep and relax of course I won’t have it on at all times just at night but I don’t want to use anything that would hurt my furry children
I’m usually a big proponent of the befits of essential oils. I rarely diffuse them, but was diffusing lavender oil on my nightstand for several nights in a row to help with a cold i had. (I didn’t want to diffuse peppermint or eucalyptus because I knew they were bad for animals). After about 4 nights of diffusing, one of our elderly cats who’d been struggling with chronic diarrhea had a seizure. He’d just had a battery of tests (including an echocardiogram and abdominal ultrasound) that all showed he had no heart or other problems. I’m seriously wondering if it was diffusing the essential oils that caused his seizure. Even our elderly 70 lb dog has been a bit “off” since I was diffusing the lavender oils. Erring on the safe side, I’m not going to be diffusing oils anymore and am going to be very careful about using them on myself around my pets.
I use pure lavender oil as a perfume. Is this a potential danger to my cat?
Hello there. I brought a diffuser to help my sinuses instructed by gp. And advised to use 100% lavender oil. Which I had a number of drops in the diffusers. Unfortunately my car got in my room while the diffusers was misting. Could this m my cat?
I have my defuser going almost all the time with lavender essential oil in it. My 2 cats are fine. I would never do anything to harm my cats. Use your own discretion. Be safe.
I’ve been diffusing lavender and cedsrwood by my bed at night for eight months. I read many blogs that supported it. When she’s sleeping by me I turn it off. She doesn’t leave like she did with wintergreen when I let her smell it. The last two mornings she threw up. No more diffusing for a while. She’s 20, and may be sleeping too hard to leave. Having her liver enzymes tested and Vet is looking into it. It costs abt $50 and may be worth it to some of you. Thanks for all the information. It’s very confusing to know who or what to believe.
wintergreen is one to be very wary of andl wdnt have it near any animals. As it is l
wdnt have even considered Lavender and the older (or younger) the more problem
it is likely to cause
What about food grade lavender oil? I wanted to make some hard candy that will contain food grade lavender oil not essential oil.. but but anytime I make candy it always makes the house smell like what I made the next day or so. Is this harmful to them to inhale?
I use lavender oil diffusers (plug ins) all over my house, and use lavender fabric softener on all my bedding and clothes. I have 19 cats, most are special needs, one is even epileptic, and I have never experienced any difficulty with any of my cats. None of my cats seem to care either way about the smell of the lavender, as they sleep on the blankets that have been treated with it.
I diffuse lavender oil every evening near my bed where both my cats sleep…they become super relaxed & just go to sleep, seems to have a stronger affect on the older cat. Am very careful not to use too much oil & don’t leave it on for more than 20min to 30min/day….Also good to have a window open & the bedroom door open or it will over sedate them
So anybody have more info about dilute lavender (and other essential oils) in human sleep remedy products? I use a couple of essential oil products such as pillow spray and body lotion. Our cat has inflammation up the nose but the reason I don’t think it’s related is 1) it was one sided inflammation suggesting she had a foreign object up there at some point 2) my use of it predates it for years (so not an obvious link) 3) I only use them in the bedroom/at night and she sneezes in all the rooms (though often the bedroom). I want to do what’s right by her but also really struggle with sleep. The article didn’t seem to mention much about inhalation. Thanks
Is it safe to use lavender in my vicks warm mist vaporizer around my cats. I want to put it in bedroom and they all sleep with me
Nice article, nice website/blog, nicely monetize without too much extra garbage on the page. Only thing missing is a link to share it to social media like my Facebook page. At least there is no button for that on my android phone version. But it does format properly. Good job.