I absolutely love candles, wax melts, essential and fragrance oils – I go totally bonkers about lovely scents permeating my home.
I also have two elderly Jack Russell’s that I would seriously die for – speak to my kids, they will back me up. On more than one occasion, I have been accused of loving my dogs more than my kids. The jury is out! Only kidding 😊
Aside from my dogs, I've devoted a great deal of time cultivating my passion - scented candle and soap making. Mindful of the environment – I go to great lengths to ensure everything I create is Eco and Vegan friendly. To recently stumble across online articles stating that I may be poisoning my pets by using certain essential oils in a diffuser or a burner was an absolute shocker!
The alleged list of poisonous scents to dogs is extraordinarily long and extremely worrying!
Here is the damning list of essential oils not to use if you have a dog/cat at home:
Anise (Pimpinella anisum)
Birch (Betula)
Bitter Almond (Prunus dulcis)
Boldo (Peumus boldus)
Calamus (Acorus calamus)
Camphor (Cinnamomum camphora)
Cassia (Cassia fistula)
Chenopodium (Chenopodium album)
Cloves (Syzygium aromaticum)
Garlic (Allium sativum)
Goosefoot (Chenopodium murale)
Horseradish (Armoracia rusticana)
Hyssop (Hyssopus sp. with the exception of Decumbens)
Juniper (Juniperus sp. with the exception of Juniper Berry)
Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)
Mustard (Brassica juncea)
Oregano (Origanum vulgare)
Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium)
Red or White Thyme
Rue (Ruta graveolens)
Santolina (Santolina chamaecyparissus)
Sassafras (Sassafras albidum)
Savory (Satureja)
Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare)
Tea Tree Oil (Melaleuca alternifolia)
Terebinth (Pistacia palaestina)
Thuja (Thuja occidentalis)
Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens)
Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium)
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Bemused, I started doing a little research and this article from Michelson Found Animals scared the living daylights out of me https://www.foundanimals.org/essential-oils-toxic-pets/ Albeit, I fail to understand why this organisation, so concerned about pets (Cats & Dogs), would refer to them as "Critters”?
Suffice to say - My dogs and I have been living quite happily and without side effects alongside my candles and essential oils -so I decided to research some of these claims.
Here are snippets of what I found:
Anise - Can Anise Harm a Dog?
According to ASPCA - "Only give dogs a small amount of anise at a time; a great deal of anise seed extract can rile up a dog's stomach or slightly depress its nervous system. However, sprinkling a small amount on a favorite toy or putting it in a treat doesn't harm the dog." (This article even goes so far as to tell you how to give your dog a teat with “Anise” - so who do we believe?
Ah! First off, I find a website called Bark and Birch – really? Could not make it up! Excited that they might throw some light on the subject, turns out the name is absolutely no relation to the subject even though birch is rumoured to be used for dog scent training – they seem to be a genuine company training dogs without the kind of Birch I am searching for!
What I did find is that Xylitol (substitute sugar) is a natural substance derived from the bark of birch trees. ... "If ingested in quantity, xylitol may lead to liver failure. Signs are subtle and include lethargy, vomiting, loss of appetite and diarrhoea". According to Wismar, the toxic dose of xylitol for dogs is 75-100 mg/kg. If you have ever weighed Icing Sugar on a scale – that is a whole lot of sugar and unlikely to be fed to a pet deliberately?
Bitter Almond (Prunus dulcis)
Another claim from the ASPCA.org states that Bitter Almond can cause digestive issues like stomach upset, vomiting, diarrhoea and possibly pancreatitis if consumed. Bitter almonds contain a cyanide compound and is considered toxic” – Now I don't know about you, but Almonds are not part of my dogs' diet and even I wouldn't eat too many of them at a time. I can therefore only conclude that an infusion of Almond through a diffuser would have to be extraordinarily strong to have any consequence - almonds are only poisonous when ingested in large quantities.
I also researched the proverbial favourite; Garlic. Not an essence one would naturally use in candles or diffusers but interesting to discover that; to kill one of my dogs (neither of which weighs more than 5kg’s), they would have to eat the equivalent of 80g of garlic to be seriously ill (not die) – we perhaps add, between 2 and 5 cloves of garlic in a meal at any given time - So - your pet would have to inadvertently eat a whole bunch of garlic to have any adverse effect. I also suspect that Italy and France would have a rather small domestic animal population if the scent of garlic was in any way toxic to pets. Any bells ringing?
That aside, when you burn a fragranced candle or a melt in your burner, or you add a few drops of essential oil into your diffuser, the heat rises with the aroma. Most likely if your pet, which has a million more scent receptors than you do, will leave the room or sneeze uncontrollably, giving you fair warning something is troubling them.
I conclude that the list of poisonous scents are only poisonous if you deliberately feed your pet the offending article or they accidently drink or eat the oils.
Our pets love us – they want to be part of the action – they love the smells around us and I am certain some smells may have a little effect, but most will make us enjoy and always remember a particular experience. I am certain after 13 years with my dogs, they enjoy all the different candle scents as much as I do!
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