Essential oils?

[ticklechin]

There are some products on the market being used to clean cages that use thyme or tee tree oil, I was always under the impression essential oils are toxic to use in small animals, does anyone know if that is true? I found lots of info about cats and dogs but nothing for rodents.

 

[menagerie]

Tea tree oil has been fatal in rats and mice. I've not heard anything about thyme.

 

[AZChins]

I wouldn't use anything that won't be removed completely through rinsing well. I'm always telling customers to not use anything on the cage that they aren't going to spray off right after unless it's vinegar or maybe rubbing alcohol since the rubbing alcohol will evaporate and not be dangerous.

Most of the time here I keep it very simple. I scrub the cages down with bleach and original Dawn liquid then spray them off with the pressure washer and set them in the sun to dry. I haven't had good luck with other cleaners, so I stay away from them. The Dawn seems to work very well with the bleach.

 

[Chub_Chub]

I use essential oils for making homemade salt and sugar scrubs. I use special bowls and spoons I have to keep away from everything else in the kitchen because the oils are toxic and it will stay in any porous material (plastic, wood, etc). I wouldn't use it for my chins.

 

[Sasha]

Tea tree oil is also toxic for hedgies too.

 

[ticklechin]

From what has been said I will not use tee tree oil for chin cage cleaning, if its toxic to some species why take a chance on chins, thanks.

 

[mistywaterwoman]

I am one of the ones using a cleaner with a tea tree oil in it to clean my cages. Firstly, it only contains a small amount of tea tree oil in it, and I am further diluting it before using it in my cages. Secondly, I've always followed through with a rinse (which is just common sense) with any product I've ever used.

I know a reputable breeder whose been using this same product around her chins for six years with no problems.

I think you can take this kind of thing to the Nth degree, being afraid to use anything around your animals.

The negative research that I saw was about using pure tea tree oil on your pets for wounds, or diluted in a shampoo, which would be directly applied to the animals. And of course that is not the case here.

Of course, like anything you do for your pets, this is all personal choice, and everyone should do what they are comfortable with. I'm just adding my two cents.

Whenever you change any aspect of your care, you should always do the appropriate research beforehand.

 

[AZChins]

Kara - if you are rinsing it off, there's no problem. That's the most important thing with cleansers. ANYTHING that is used needs to be thoroughly rinsed off. I don't like the idea of spraying something on and just wiping it off because of the residues left behind. Commercially available cleansers really do have a lot of chemicals in them that probably wouldn't be good for any living creature to be exposed to on a regular basis.

Dawn liquid, I admit, can be hard to get rid of...it must really be rinsed off well as anything soapy must be. But, they use it to remove crude oil from ocean wildlife so I know it's pretty safe.

I've always wondered about using tea tree oil as an antiseptic with the chins. I didn't ever use it on wounds with them because I know how much it burns me when I have used it on myself.