Valerian oil for cats

lucianot

Hi there,

I have to take our cat to the vet and as he gets very afraid of me when I try to grab him (he was a stray cat and we adopted him) and my wife will not dare to take him to the vet. So I bought some valerian oil just to try and se if it would calm him down and yes, it works, he is sleeping like a rock! I've put around ten drops on a tissue and he started smelling it and rolling on it until he finally completely relaxed when I took the tissue away. Time of exposition to the oil, 20 seconds.:D
I want to try this again before putting him in the transport box tomorrow, so when we are done he will not escape (I had a cat who disappeared after the first visit to the vet, terrified) but I can't find anything on the safe dose for this oil.
Anybody has any experience with this? Any information that you can provide?
Is it safe just smelling it or do you have to put the drops in his mouth, etc? Or maybe this thing is too strong?
It just smells so bad

Cheers!
Thanks.

Lucianot

The Sweeper

Pure valerian oil is too potent for your cat. Certainly do not put pure oil on his skin or his fur, or put pure oil drops in his mouth, in his water or in his food. Pure essential oils and cats don't mix - their livers don't function the way ours do and they find it very difficult to process substances like essential oil, so different oils can be toxic to cats in certain doses.

Valerian root contains a terpenoid chemical that's very similar to what's in catnip, hence cats do love it, but it has a calming effect as opposed to a stimulating effect.

And yes, it should smell like smelly socks to you.

Now that you know your cat responds to it, you could try buying a certified valerian pet spray for use on or around bedding or toys. You could also try diluting the oil with a non-toxic base oil, and then using one or two drops of THAT on a tissue that you take away from the cat (without allowing him to lick it or eat the tissue), but I wouldn't put the pure oil on his bedding, on anything he can't get away from, and I would limit the time of exposure to it (as you've already done), I also wouldn't use enough drops to make it very pungent.

You also need to let the vet know when you get there that you've used a valerian scented product - or any other product you may have used - to calm your cat.

Always be very careful using essential oil products with or around cats - not only because different batches of essential oils can have different potencies, so you really have no guarantee of what you're dosing your pet with.

lucianot

Thanks Sweeper! I told the vet this morning and he said it was ok but shouldn't use too much. I will not put it on his fur or mouth, thanks for the advice.
I wanted to use it this time only as it would be the first time he would be in a box and transported. He behaved quite well actually.

Acoshla

This is an odd tip but if you have Valerian tea bags that come in a paper wrapper give that to the cat, mine rubs on them, lies down and goes to sleep.

lucianot

Alright, that seems a more appropiate dose.
Thanks.