Your House Can Smell Fantastic by Diffusing Pet Safe Essential Oils
This was not the topic I had planned on writing about today; but as often happens, customer feedback caught our attention.
Yesterday we got an email from one of our long time customers.
She had purchased Sunshine in a Bottle™ and she needed better instructions on how to use it.
Anytime we get customer feedback we look at what we are doing, how we are doing it, and how we can improve.
If she didn't know how to use it; we needed to do a better job explaining how to diffuse essential oils that are safe for dogs!
So here we go with a quick "how to"!
Essential Oil Quality
Consumers have a LOT of options for essential oils. Unfortunately, the quality of essential oils is a confusing smorgasbord with marketing that spans from honesty all the way to misleading claims and outright lies. It can be difficult to find essential oils that are safe to diffuse around your pets or yourself if you are searching based upon what is on the bottle or what the website says or worse, based exclusively on price.
Sound familiar? Well, yes. Pet parents have the same issue finding a truly organic dog shampoo which is why we developed our USDA Certified Organic Dog Shampoo.
There are heart wrenching stories on social media from truly awesome pet parents who have diffused essential oils and their dog, cat or other animal (including humans) had negative health effects from diffusing low quality essential oils. The automatic reaction is to wave your arms around and scream from the top of your lungs "ALERT! ALERT". Unfortunately, this reaction does as much damage as it does good because the person seldom realizes it’s the low quality of the oil to blame. So the knee-jerk reaction turns into full blown hysteria for many people who then jump to the conclusion that ALL essential oils are bad - and this deprives pets of the truly beneficial support they can get from high quality essential oils.
At a friends house recently, she was diffusing a "holiday blend" of essential oils. Within minutes my eyes were watering and my head hurt. I knew immediately what it was - low quality essential oils. The clove in that blend was so offensive my nose could pick it out above everything else in the blend! We had the essential oil quality talk and she no longer uses essential oils from that company.
We are going to write a longer post about the quality of essential oils in the future. The bottom line is low quality essential oils do more damage than good. Dog owners have rushed their furry family members to the hospital to discover low quality essential oils have actually changed the blood chemistry (liver, kidneys, etc.) of their pets and created a harmful inflammatory response.
When our own dog was diagnosed with Granulomatous meningoencephalomyelitis or GME we needed an "easy button". She required so much care that we didn't have the time to put into the research and blending to make sure she was being supported with pet safe essential oils because our time needed to be focused on her.
Our easy button was buying essential oils that were screened by lot (each harvest of oils is a different lot) for quality, hand blended, and tested by an integrative and holistic veterinarian. We turned to Dr. Melissa Shelton DVM who used essential oils in her own veterinary practice and analyzed the blood work from her patients as part of their routine care to see the benefits of high quality essential oils!
We loved Dr. Shelton’s animalEO blends so much we added them to our store to give our customers the same "easy button"!
Two of the essential oils we diffuse regularly to add beneficial oils into our pets (and us) while making the room sell amazingly good are Sunshine in a Bottle™ and Lemony Sniffet™.
Sunshine in a Bottle™
A great diffusion blend for rejuvenating the mind and spirit and cleansing the air while providing general health benefits.
Essential Oils of Tangerine (Citrus reticulate), Grapefruit (Citrus paradisi), Frankincense (Boswellia carterii), Copaiba (Copaifera officinalis), Orange (Citrus sinensis)
Lemony Sniffet™
If you want to clear the air in your house there is nothing better than lemon. This pet safe essential oil blend is combined with lavender for relaxation, lemon ironbark to relieve stress, and Niaouli to clear the head and lift the spirits!
Essential Oils of Lavender (Lavendula angustifolia), Lemon Ironbark (Eucalyptus staigeriana), Niaouli (Melaleuca quinquenervia C), Lemon (Citrus limon)
How to Diffuse Pet Safe Essential Oils
There are two basic types of diffusion: passive and mechanical.
With a passive diffusion the essential oils diffuse into the air on their own. Over the holidays I put a few pieces of organic cotton in votive candle holders (that had no candles) and dropped a few drops of cedar and peppermint essential oils on the cotton balls. It made the bathroom smell fresh and clean and holiday-riffic! You can also put the oils in a dish with water or put water and essential oils into a glass container and add reeds (small sticks). The oil will saturate into the reeds, and as it wicks up the shaft of the reed, it will release the essential oils into the air.
Most often we use water based ultrasonic diffusion, a mechanical diffusion that is the most natural for your pet as it most closely aligns with how they would be exposed to natural oils in nature. In ultrasonic diffusion (or humidifying diffusion) a ceramic disc located at the bottom of the water tank creates ultrasonic vibrations causing friction between the molecules and transforms water into a fine mist. These tiny particles are more easily absorbed by the lungs for a greater therapeutic effect on the body, mind, and spirit.
There are also nebulizer diffusers which use high frequency vibrations to change essential oil into a micro-fine mist without the use of water. The essential oils from a nebulizer are very potent and not recommended around pets as it may overwhelm them.
Using a Water Based Ultrasonic Diffuser Around Your Dog
Using a water based ultrasonic diffuser is easy!
- Simply remove the cover, and if your diffuser has a water chamber cover remove it as well
- Add water up to the fill line which is usually marked for you
- Add 4-5 drops of pet safe essential oils
- Replace the cover and press the button to begin diffusing
There are a ton of diffusers on the market. We use the re-purposed wood diffuser as it looks nice and has given us no issues over the years! Ours has two settings "constant and intermittent". On the constant cycle it will run for up to 4 hours. On intermittent it will run up to 8 hours releasing small amounts over the full time period and for either setting will cover a 300 sq ft area.
It is important to routinely clean your diffuser to maintain proper performance. The frequency of use will determine how often you should clean your diffuser. Even if you are only diffusing 2-3 times each month, water mineral deposits and oil residue can build and harden your diffuser's disc when not in use.
| Operation Frequency | Cleaning Frequency |
| Often (Daily) | Weekly |
| Every So Often (2-3 Times Per Week) | Weekly |
| Sparingly (2-3 Times Per Month) | Monthly |
| Rarely/Special Occasions (Once Per Month) | Monthly |
Our diffuser is almost constantly diffusing. I clean it weekly with a dry soft cotton towel by simply wiping it out. Maybe once a month or so I've cleaned it with a diluted vinegar solution to get rid of any build-up. Remember to not use any strong cleaning agents and to keep all sharp or hard objects away from the ceramic plate!
We wish you happy and safe diffusing!
