Hamster Central - View Single Post - what essential oils/room sprays are safe for hamsters

AmityvilleHams · 01-15-2022, 10:23 AM

Air fresheners and such shouldn't be used around pets in general, especially those with delicate respiratory systems like hamsters.

Essential oils are really tricky. They're not all created equal with many companies that produce them including harmful additives and impurities that make them far more dangerous than they otherwise could be. If not used at a proper dilution they can already be very toxic or at the very least highly irritating to humans let alone far more sensitive species.

I wouldn't personally ever recommend using something like a diffuser in the same room as a hamster even with safe plant species & high quality impurity and harmful additive free essential oils at proper dilutions. They can be really irritating with how sensitive hamster noses are!

I know people with parrots(who happen to be extremely sensitive animals) will often safely boil certain things in a pot of water in the kitchen to add nice smells without using harmful synthetic fragrance and such - cinnamon in particular being fairly commonly mentioned from what I've seen. This would be a really good idea but obviously you shouldn't leave anything unattended on the stove.

For general odor absorption rather than fragrance baking soda works really nicely. You do need to keep it outside of hamster reach for safety reasons, but it's a very economical choice with minimal effort required.

01-15-2022, 10:23 AM
AmityvilleHams PM Fluffy for custom title Join Date: Mar 2016 Posts: 4,545	Re: what essential oils/room sprays are safe for hamsters Air fresheners and such shouldn't be used around pets in general, especially those with delicate respiratory systems like hamsters. Essential oils are really tricky. They're not all created equal with many companies that produce them including harmful additives and impurities that make them far more dangerous than they otherwise could be. If not used at a proper dilution they can already be very toxic or at the very least highly irritating to humans let alone far more sensitive species. I wouldn't personally ever recommend using something like a diffuser in the same room as a hamster even with safe plant species & high quality impurity and harmful additive free essential oils at proper dilutions. They can be really irritating with how sensitive hamster noses are! I know people with parrots(who happen to be extremely sensitive animals) will often safely boil certain things in a pot of water in the kitchen to add nice smells without using harmful synthetic fragrance and such - cinnamon in particular being fairly commonly mentioned from what I've seen. This would be a really good idea but obviously you shouldn't leave anything unattended on the stove. For general odor absorption rather than fragrance baking soda works really nicely. You do need to keep it outside of hamster reach for safety reasons, but it's a very economical choice with minimal effort required.