There are few important guidelines for finding an air freshener that is good for your cat.
First, you should avoid adding fragrances to your house if possible, and instead use products that focus on removing bad odors and leaving no scent in their place. This is because fragrances, and the chemicals that cause them, can irritate your cat and cause allergic reactions.
Second, if you must use a fragrance, you should only use all-natural products to produce the scent, because synthetic scented chemicals are more likely to be toxic to cats and other animals.
Third, even when using an all-natural product, you must observe your pet for any signs of discomfort, erratic behavior, or allergies, and remove the scented product immediately if the cat has a bad reaction to your chosen fragrance.
I’ll explain all of these issues and more below.
The Problem With Cats And Air Fresheners
The biggest problem with cats and air fresheners is that you can’t talk to your cat about their feelings, so you have to observe their reaction to your air fresheners instead.
Many air fresheners use synthetic chemicals that can produce allergic reactions in both humans and animals if the scent is too strong. The problem with this comparison is that cats have a much more sensitive sense of smell than humans do. This means that even though you think the fragrance is fine, your little kitty may think it’s too strong.
Another big concern is this: Never spray a scented chemical or cleaning spray anywhere where your cat is likely to walk. The cat may walk through it and then lick his paws, ingesting harmful chemicals that could seriously hurt him.
Are All-Natural Air Fresheners Okay For Cats?
Sometimes, but not always.
All-natural air fresheners, such as the fragrances produce by scented essential oils, can still be harmful to cats. Just like humans can be allergic to certain scents, or can have allergic reactions if a natural scent is simply too strong, so can your cats.
Even when using an all-natural fragrance in your home, you have to watch your catch carefully for signs of allergies.
Signs Your Cat Doesn’t Like Your Air Freshener
There are a few issues to look out for when introducing an air freshener into your home with cats:
First, watch your cats for signs of abnormal behavior. This behavior can include avoiding the room or area where the air freshener is. This behavior might also include a change in their eating habits, or a change in their pooping or peeing habits.
If the air freshener is in the room with the litter box, and the cat doesn’t like it, they may start pooping and peeing in your closet instead.
Secondly, and more importantly, watch for signs of illness or allergic reaction. This can include drainage around the eyes, sneezing, wheezing, or other symptoms like erratic behavior in general.
If your cat shows any change of behavior when you introduce a new scent to your home, the chances are high that the cat does not like the scent. In this case, you should remove it and see if the cat goes back to normal.
Are Phthalates Or “Volatile Organic Compounds” Going To Kill My Cat?
A phthalate is a synthetic chemical found in many chemical air fresheners that helps the scent of them spread out more thoroughly around the room. Phythalates are not inherently dangerous to living things, but can occasionally cause allergic or asthmatic reactions in both humans and animals. Since cats have a more sensitive sense of smell than humans, they are almost certainly more sensitive to these chemicals.
“Volatile Organic Compounds” – despite the name containing the scary word “volatile” – are actually less harmful. A volatile organic compound is literally just an organic molecule that floats around the air. In the context of air fresheners, it refers to molecule that floats around and causes a scent when interacting with your nose.
Every living plant that gives off an odor is releasing volatile organic compounds. Thus, to say that they are inherently dangerous is obviously a lie. Your cat does not die from simply smelling the flowers outside! The media in general is very alarmist when it comes to volatile organic compounds and their danger, mostly because it’s easy to scare people by using the word “volatile” when talking about something.
The truth is that most cats will be fine with most organic scents. However, some cats may have an allergic reaction to some smells, even natural ones. Or, they might just not like the smell, just like a human. In either case, you should watch your cat’s behavior and adjust your air freshener decisions accordingly.
What Are My Cat-Safe Options?
The best choice for a cat-safe air freshener is to remove bad odors instead of adding new scents.
I’ve listed the products that I recommend most for odor-removal below:
- Odor-absorbing Bags Of Activated Carbon – Set these in any room of the house to absorb odor molecules – Click here to view.
- Hanging Pyramid Sack Of Activated Carbon – Same as above, but more cute! – Click here to view.
- Cat Litter Deodorizer – Add a bit of this to your cat litter to absorb the bad smell of cat poop – Click here to view.
- Standing Air Purifier Tower– Useful for sucking up odors – Must have odor-absorbing activated carbon filter (listed below) to maximize odor removal – Click here to view.
- Activated Carbon Filter (For Air Purifier Above) – Absorbs odor particles that are too small to be caught by a normal air filter – Click here to view.
If you absolutely must add a new scent to your home, I recommend choosing a fragrance that uses all-natural materials to produce the scent. The best solution for this is an essential oil diffuser.
I also recommend not using this in the same room as your cat’s litter box, or his food and water dishes. If the cat doesn’t like the scent, he will still be able to handle his important business with food, water, and the litter box while avoiding your new fragrance as much as possible.
You can also use scented oils in spray bottles, which are great for using right before company comes over. Since the scent only lasts a few hours, it’s less likely to produce an allergic reaction in your cat. He can just leave the room for a few hours while your guests are over and enjoying the smell.
Check out my favorite options here:
- Electronic Scented Oil Diffuser – Has various adjustable lighting settings – Click here to view.
- Essential Oil 6-scent Value Pack – Comes with 6 different scents – Click here to view.
- Flower Power Scented Oil Spray Bottles – Comes with 3 different, all-natural scents – Click here to view.
Reviewed and updated for accuracy on May 28, 2020 by Jennifer Coates, DVM
As parents and caregivers, one of the earliest lessons we learn is the concept of “baby-proofing”—keeping toxic substances and dangerous situations well out of the way of our children. As pet parents, we need to do the same. But unlike children, instead of this being a temporary obligation, it’s something we’ll need to do throughout the lives of our pets.
Some of the things we do to improve our environment, such as cleaning or using chemical air fresheners, can pose dangers to our animal friends, whether furry, feathered, or scaled. So, do pet owners need to forever do away with their room sprays, plug-ins, candles, oils, and solids? That’s a question that’s not so easily answered. However, there are some ways to play it safe when using these products in the home.
“If we are putting some kind of chemical into the air merely to mask scents, then we have to be concerned about the negative implications for our pets,” says holistic veterinarian Dr. Patrick Mahaney of California.
Sadly, some forms of air fresheners can be quite toxic, especially to animals (and children!) who might ingest the substances or not have the wherewithal to avoid parts of the home where they’ve been used.
The Ingredients That Makes Air Fresheners Dangerous for Pets
According to Dr. Mahaney, one of the main offenders in the ingredient list for most air fresheners are volatile organic compounds (VOC). VOCs are organic chemicals that have a high vapor pressure at room temperature. This causes these compounds to easily turn into gasses or vapors from a solid or liquid form. This transformation is called volatility. In other words, volatility is just how air fresheners are meant to behave: dissipate into the air, thereby changing its scent.
Unfortunately, this is the same volatility that occurs in paints and varnishes, fossil fuels, benzene, formaldehyde, refrigerants, aerosol propellants, cigarette smoke, and the dry-cleaning process. You wouldn’t open a can of paint in your living room to improve the quality of the air, but this isn’t too far removed from what happens when you break out an air freshener.
These substances can cause a laundry list of maladies. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the health effects of VOCs may include:
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Eye, nose and throat irritation
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headaches, loss of coordination, lethargy and nausea
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damage to liver, kidney and central nervous system
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Some VOCs can cause cancer in animals; some are suspected or known to cause cancer in humans.
And in a study published in the Environmental Impact Assessment Review, testing of top selling air fresheners and laundry detergents “found 133 different VOCs emitted from the 25 products, with an average of 17 VOCs per product. Of these 133 VOCs, 24 are classified as toxic or hazardous under U.S. federal laws, and each product emitted at least one of these compounds. For “green” products, emissions of these compounds were not significantly different from the other products.”
Natural Alternatives to Air Fresheners: Are Essential Oils Safer?
For the air freshener industry, the latest catch phrase is “essential oils.” Despite this natural-sounding name, these products are by no means entirely safe. Essential oils are also defined as volatile, and while these substances are extracted from flowers, bark, berries, roots, seeds, and woods, and do have some potential medicinal and positive effects, they can still be very toxic to people and animals, particularly when they are used improperly.
“Essential oils, which are included in many air freshener products, can be very toxic, especially to cats. If you simply have to have essential oils in the home, make sure they are kept in a location where your pets cannot come into direct contact with them,” says veterinarian Dr. Jennifer Coates of Fort Collins, Colorado.
“Also, birds are more sensitive to potential airborne toxins than are other animals, so I generally recommend a ‘better safe than sorry’ approach with the use of air fresheners around them.”
When it comes to using these products around our pets, a little information is your best defense. “Read the instructions on the side of the bottle and be sure you are spraying the recommended amount,” says Dr. Mahaney. “When you walk into a room that’s been heavily sprayed with air freshener, what does it do to your eyes and lungs? If it’s doing that to you, it’s also going to do that [or worse] to your pets.”
Signs of a Toxic Reaction to Air Fresheners in Pets
According to Dr. Mahaney, the negative effects of air fresheners may appear immediately or within a few hours or days after use. When you first use them, a pet might immediately withdraw from the area or cower. A pet might cough, sneeze, produce discharge from the eyes and/or nose, or suffer from vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy, or lack of appetite.
Long term effects are also possible. Dr. Mahaney says “Cats have had an increase in feline asthma as a result of living in households where there are air fresheners, incense and cigarette smoke—or even just the aroma of cleaning products.”
However, these dangers don’t come from the air alone. They can also be caused by contamination from where air fresheners fall – where a pet might step, roll, or lick – or from products such as carpet shampoos and cleaners that are specifically made for surfaces.
“If you’re going to spray something that’s going to leave an aroma, I suggest that you don’t give your pets access to it,” says Dr. Mahaney. “If you’re cleaning, you don’t want to leave a significant residue—they could walk across it and potentially lick it off their paws.”
What to Do if Your Pet Eats an Air Freshener
Ingesting an air freshener can be even more dangerous than simply breathing it in. Any long-term usage products, such as solid or plug-in air fresheners, need to be closely monitored, and extra care needs to be taken when you dispose of them. If your pet is inclined to go through the trash, you might want to dispose of spent air fresheners directly in an outside trash receptacle.
“If an animal ingests an air freshener, I worry primarily about its effect on the gastrointestinal system,” says Dr. Coates. “The active ingredients and/or the packaging could cause vomiting, diarrhea, etc. Systemic effects are also possible depending on the chemicals and amounts involved.” And that is not confined to chemically scented products. “Essential oils can not only affect the GI tract, but they also are associated with neurological problems like agitation, weakness, unsteadiness, and tremors in dogs—and especially in cats.”
“Anything with a fibrous nature to it can cause digestive distress, and some products may be absorbed through the small intestine and get into the blood,” explains Dr. Mahaney.
So, how do you know if the products you use around your home are relatively safe? Dr. Mahaney recommends doing some research on the ASPCA’s Poison Control Center Website. This resource covers all sorts of toxins that your pet might encounter, from air fresheners, cleaning products, human and pet medications, foods, plants, and other substances. In case of a poisoning emergency, there is a 24-hour hotline at (888) 426-4435, although a $65 consultation fee might be required.
And in the case of a true emergency, make sure to get your pet to a veterinarian as quickly as possible.
By David F. Kramer
Featured Image: iStock.com/Smikey26