🐾 Are Essential Oils Safe for Dogs & Cats?

(A bold, sassy guide for pawrent’s who love natural health, BUT love their fur-kidz more.)

Let’s be real:

Essential oils aren’t just being used to make homes smell heavenly. Now pawrents are using them to:

🦟 fight fleas + ticks
🤕 ease anxiety
🤧 “boost immunity”
🦠 fight diseases or infections
🩹 fix skin issues
😴 calm reactivity
🌿 add to homemade “healing” balms
🧼 freshen bedding, crates, toys, and carpets
💧 clean floors and counters

…And everything in between.

We get it. They sound natural. They look natural. They’re packaged like little bottles of wellness magic.

But here’s our loving, no-fluff truth bomb:

🚫 Essential oils are NOT a gentle natural medicine. 

They’re extremely concentrated stimulants that can overwhelm The entire system.

Let us show you why… 

😤 Reason 1: Your dog’s nose is basically a superpower

To you: “Mmm, lavender.”

To your dog: “WHO SET OFF THE AROMA GRENADE?!”

Dogs smell in ultra-high-definition.

What’s a “soft scent” to us is a full-body sensory event to them.

So, whether you're:

🌫 diffusing lavender to “calm” them,
🦟 spraying peppermint to kill fleas,
🩹 applying frankincense for joints,
😷 rubbing oils on their chest for breathing support…

…it’s WAY stronger for their bodies than it is for ours. 

😼 Reason 2: Dogs AND Cats Lick… and Their Skin Absorbs Everything

Let’s clear something up:

It’s not just cats who turn themselves into a full-body tongue bath.

Dogs lick too — paws, legs, the air… you name it.

So, when pawrent’s apply essential oils for:

🦟 fleas
🩹 skin issues
😰 calming
🦠 “immune support”
💧 ear problems
🔥 inflammation
💨 breathing issues

…it doesn’t just sit on them.

Two things happen:

1️⃣ They lick it - so it goes inside their body.

Dogs and cats both groom, lick, and ingest whatever is on their fur, paws, or skin.

That calming blend meant to soothe them?

Yep! They’re eating it.

2️⃣ Oils absorb straight through the skin into the bloodstream.

Skin isn’t just a shield, it’s a sponge.

Especially on animals with thin, sensitive skin.

So even if they never lick it, essential oils still travel:

➡️ through the skin
➡️ into the bloodstream
➡️ to the liver
➡️ through their organs

Because these oils are SO concentrated, it’s basically sending plant rocket fuel directly into their system.

Their bodies were never designed for this.

Which is why so many pawrents have seen:

❌ appetite changes
❌ depression
❌ weird behavior
❌ breathing issues
❌ liver stress
❌ skin irritation

No one means harm.

But the body still has to deal with the oil ~ inside and out.

⚡ Reason 3: Essential oils stimulate

Essential oils create the illusion of improvement because they rev the body up.

✔ More energy
✔ More alertness
✔ A burst of “calm”
✔ A quick mood shift

But stimulants ≠ healing.

It’s like giving someone 3 espresso shots and saying, “Look! Their sadness is gone!”

No… they’re just hyped up.

And when a dog or cat’s body is already struggling, that stimulation can backfire quickly. 

🤯 Reason 4: These oils are WAY stronger than you think

Here’s where things get wild.

Herbalist Arielle de Martinez shared this jaw-dropper:

“It takes over half a pound of peppermint to make one single drop of peppermint essential oil.”

Let’s put that in perspective…

Would you ever rub half a pound of peppermint leaves directly onto your dog’s skin to help their anxiety, pests, or sickness?

Didn’t think so.

And to equal the volatile oils in one single drop of peppermint oil… a dog would need to drink over 140 cups of peppermint tea.

Nothing in nature delivers plant compounds this way.

Nothing.

So, using essential oils as “medicine” or “immune support” is not gentle, it’s a biochemical overload. 

💔 One Short (and Sadly, All-Too Common) Story

One pawrent recently shared this with us about her reactive little dog:

“We used essential oils because our puppy is anxious and reactive. Before a long flight, we were told to apply three drops on his skin every six hours. Within the first week he became depressed, stopped eating, and wasn’t himself. Once we stopped the oils, he slowly returned to normal.”

That wasn’t from diffusing.

That wasn’t from “just smelling it.”

That was from using essential oils as treatment.

And sadly… stories like that are not rare. 

🚨 Real Symptoms Pawrents Have Shared With Us

Whether it’s from diffusing, applying oils, using them in sprays, mixing them in cleaning products, or adding them into “healing blends”…

Here are the symptoms we hear again and again:

·       Seizures

·       Depression

·       Breathing issues

·       Appetite loss

·       Liver stress

·       Lung irritation

·       Lethargy

·       Skin reactions

·       Anxiety spikes

·       And a few truly terrifying, near-fatal reactions

So many pawrents thought they were helping. 

💨 Smell + Stimulating “Wellness” Products to Kick Off the Shelf

These are just as overwhelming:

·       🤧 Potpourri

·       🤧 Salt lamps

·       🤧 Incense

·       🤧 Plug-ins & Scentsy

·       🤧 Scented candles

·       🤧 Perfumes

·       🤧 Beauty products

·       🤧 Laundry soap & softeners

If it punches you in the nose…it blindsides them. 

✨ The Bold Bottom Line

Essential oils are not the gentle, earthy, plant-based healing potions they’re marketed to be!

They’re ultra-concentrated, highly stimulating plant extracts that their bodies were NOT designed to ingest, absorb, inhale, or metabolize.

Your dog or cat doesn’t need:

❌ peppermint bombs for fleas
❌ lavender clouds for anxiety
❌ eucalyptus for sickness
❌ frankincense for inflammation
❌ lemon oil in their water
❌ thieves oil for “immune support”

What they do need:

💛 clean air
💛 clean water
💛 real, species-appropriate food
💛 natural minerals
💛 gentle support
💛 and LESS chemical + scent overload

That’s what real healing looks like. 

🐾 Your Turn

Ever used essential oils for fleas, calming, or sickness?

What happened?

Share your story!  You never know who it might help.