Contents
Confusion exists around lavender plants and pet safety. The short answer is: the plant in your garden is not a risk. The concern, where it exists, is with concentrated essential oil — and those are very different things.
Are Lavender plants Safe for Cats & Dogs?
Yes. Lavender plants in the garden — fresh, dried or cut — are safe for cats & dogs. Lavender is one of the less toxic plants a dog or cat could encounter; they would need to eat platefuls before coming to any harm. To the best of our knowledge, there has never been a recorded case of a dog or cat dying from ingesting lavender plants.
Is Lavender oil Safe for Cats & Dogs?
Concentrated lavender essential oil is a different matter. It can be toxic to cats and dogs, and there are known concerns around undiluted applications and some flea treatments that contain it. Dilute lavender oil appears in certain pet health products, but always check labels before applying anything undiluted to or around your animals.
To put it in plain terms: this is one of those cases where the rhetoric and the reality differ. We have three dogs, and have kept dogs all our lives — including some with very strange tastes indeed. Not one of them has so much as nibbled lavender. This is a plant that dogs and cats simply tend to leave alone.
The caution you may have read online relates specifically to concentrated essential oil, not to growing lavender in your garden or keeping dried bunches in the house. Undiluted lavender oil can cause ill effects, and it is worth being careful around certain flea treatments that contain it. But that is a far cry from the lavender hedge at the end of your path. To the best of our knowledge and belief, there has never been a recorded case of a dog or cat dying from ingesting lavender plants.
Leave a Reply