Are Vaporizers Good for Dogs, Cats, and Other Pets? [Are They Safe?]

You’ve often been told how best to use a vaporizer and what you can put inside to get its maximum benefits. Whether it’s herbs, essential oils, or some other therapeutic or medicinal substances, using a vaporizer can be an easy way to consume needed substances in a vaporized form for fast results.

Generally, We’ve often associated vaporizers with the benefits they can offer to people. But is that all there is to these very important devices? We’re sure you must have asked at least once in the past if you can use vaporizers for your pets.

Is it safe to use a vaporizer for a cat? Or a dog? Or any other pet for that matter? What if you use a vaporizer in a room that has a pet? Is it safe? If not, what precautions can you use?

These are very valid questions and we’ll unravel them shortly. At the end of this post, you’d know how best to use your vaporizer around your pet, if you should.

Can You Use a Vaporizer for A Dog?

The vaporizer itself can be used for a dog. For instance, the warm vapor produced by the device can help clear nasal congestion in your dog and make them feel better in the cold. However, you should be careful what you put in the vaporizer.

Our advice is that you don’t use essential oils at all, but you should talk to your veterinarian to find out if it’s okay to use any essential oil in a vaporizer for your dog.

We do know that many essential oils are not exactly safe for pets, and some of them are simply toxic to dogs.

For example, tea tree oil, eucalyptus oil, peppermint, citrus, pine, cinnamon, ylang-ylang, and wintergreen are considered toxic to many pets, so using them in a vaporizer for your dog is not safe.

However, you can be creative with some healthy herbs like turmeric, rosemary, ginger, parsley, and some others to help your dog feel more comfortable.

Vaporizers can help improve stuffiness in dogs. You can also use a prescribed medication provided by a vet. You can set up the vaporizer when your dog is asleep or put her in a bathroom and leave her there until the device runs out.

Can I Use a Vaporizer for My Cat?

Yes, you can use a vaporizer for your cat. If your cat has cold or nasal congestion, using a vaporizer may just be the best solution to improve the situation.

However, you should not use essential oils or Vicks (in the case of a Vicks vaporizer) because the menthol substance can be harmful to your cat.

We recommend you use just water. This can be heated up to produce the steam needed.

You can also use prescribed medicines and herbs prescribed by your vet and suitable for vaporization if you have a sick cat.

As long as you avoid essential oils and other harmful substances, you should be able to use a vaporizer for your cat without any trouble.

Are Vaporizers Safe for Other Pets?

This depends on the content of the vaporizer and what aerosols are being released into the air. Pets can be quite delicate so you must handle them with care.

Also, humans have more immunity and resistance to certain levels of toxicity than pets, so it will be wrong to assume that pets can handle exposure to certain substances just because humans can.

When it’s cold and you need to add steam to the room or you need to provide soothing relief for your sick pet, a vaporizer can be very useful, but only if you use water or any other liquids prescribed by your vet.

Also, you need to be careful about vaporizers that heat up. Leaving your pet with a heated vaporizer in the same space can be very dangerous.

Generally, pets such as dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, and guinea pigs can be very curious beings, especially cats. It will be safer to avoid contact as much as possible.

Precautions While Using Vaporizers with Pets At Home

From low body temperature and feet unsteadiness to depression, there are a number of symptoms that exposure to essential oils can cause to your pets, and this is just one of the many reasons for precaution when you use a vaporizer with pets in your home. Let’s take some of them.

1. Don’t use essential oils with pets in the house

We cannot emphasize it enough that essential oils are dangerous to your pet’s health. In fact, highly concentrated amounts of essential oils can be quite fatal, especially if it is a volatile chemicals.

For instance, as little as 7 drops of tea tree oil can have highly damaging effects on your pets. While some others may not be as fatal, they can still cause some harm.

2. Avoid contact with boiling liquid in the vaporizer

We mentioned this in passing earlier. Even if all you’ve put in the vaporizer is water, boiling water in a vaporizer can be harmful to your curious pet if they come in contact with the heated device.

You can attach the pet to a leash (where possible) while the device emits its vapor. Another thing you can do is place the vaporizer where the pet cannot reach it.

3. Pet-proof your home

Pet proofing your home is all about making your home safe for your pet. This means ensuring that things like a heated-up machine can’t be placed in a spot where it’s accessible to pets. This may also mean that your pet is in a safe part of the house if you must release essential oils into the air.

4. Avoid concentrated smells

There are some essential oils that are very concentrated and, even if you release them in one part of the house, the odor can find its way to the part of the house your pet is occupying.

You must only use pet-friendly herbs, liquids and substances in your vaporizer if you care about their health and safety.

Final Words:

You may mean we’ll for your pet but you’re going about it the wrong way. But if you had no idea how vaporizers (with the wrong content) can harm your pet, this post should’ve put all of that to rest.

Let’s be clear if you must use a vaporizer for a pet or in a house where you have a pet, avoid essential oils completely. Unless your vet recommends an essential oil that’s pet-friendly, it should be avoided at all costs.

Use water instead or get herbs that are safe for pets, so you don’t put any of your little ones in harm’s way. What’s more, keep them away from heated vaporizers.