Well, it is the sensation of freshness when you enter the home and feel a nice incense. Though it is not an easy task to keep the home smelling good especially if you are owning a cat.
However, having a litter box will be impactful. Some cat owners love to have a little somewhat more like incense or a candle.
Is the incense bad for cats? The answer is simply yes, it can be. Cats have sensitive noses and the smells can be harsher to them. Additionally, when cats inhale the smoke produced by the incense, they suffer from sneezing, congestion, or other respiratory problems.
Are people usually curious to know that is incense bad for cats? So, let’s dive into this matter if it is true or not. If yes, then how cats are affected by this, and what other things you can use in place of incense at home.
Is Incense Bad for Cats? If Yes, Then Why?
There are different reasons why is incense bad for cats. Let’s take a review of these reasons one by one.
1) Burning Incense With Smoke:
Burning incense is not only harmful to your cats but also not good for your health according to the environmental protection agency.
According to a report issued in 2001, particulates emit in indoor air due to the smoke produced from incense. Your respiratory tract gets deposited by such incense producing particulates.
There are many contaminants present in this emitted smoke that are injurious to our health including dermatitis and many mutagenic effects.
These all above are the problems for humans then what about your cat and the people who are asking “Is incense bad for cats?” Cats are so small and that particulates are mighty to affect the cats’ lings badly.
After inhaling such particulates, your cat will not feel comfortable and may suffer from congestion, sneezing, and other respiratory problems. Have you ever tried giving your cats some marshmallows, Asparagus, Mint, Green Beans, or pancakes to eat?
2) Smell Sensitivity:
Cats can smell more what humans are unable to smell. According to this perspective, a cat’s nose contains odor sensors of more than 200 million while humans have only 5 million odor sensors in their nose. That is why cats can smell 14 times more in comparison to humans.
Is incense bad for the cat? You can now judge the smell we feel like a soothing and powerful aroma that may be very intensive and potent for your cat. This burning incense can be a problem for your cat. You must not make your pet disturbed by this aroma.
Sometimes your cat may smell like poop, or your cat’s breath may smell like cat feed, but you can avoid it by using the techniques we discussed in the previous articles with you.
3) Fire Risk:
While having an open flame at your home, you must keep an eye on it. But it is not easy to pay attention to incense and your cat all the time. If you have both an incense and an open flame, your cat will be more curious about it and thus there could be a risk of fire.
In this way, there would be swirly smoke whips around and your cat will look interested from where it is coming out and may interfere with that burning incense or an open flame. This is how it could be risky to have a burning incense while owning a cat as well.
There is one more noteworthy thing that you must consider while having a burning incense. Usually, there is a holder on which a stick is burning as incense. Your cat may jump on to that and break it.
This broken stick will fall no matter whatever is below. In comparison to this, a candle is somehow sturdy one but it has its issues.
Is Incense Bad for Cats? Health Issues
Incense badly affects the respiratory system as well as general skin problems. Does another question raise that if this incense affects a cat’s digestion process? No, this not the case.
The oily state of incense affects the cat’s sensitive skin. In another way, the resulted oil may get into the nose and enter the lungs that are highly sensitive to it.
Along with incense, a deodorizer or a room spray can irritate cats. Your house will smell perfect but it will impact adversely on your cat’s respiratory system. This may lead to asthma problems with crazy coughing and congestion.
The lower part of the respiratory tract in cats gets affected while suffering from asthma. This troublesome makes your pet less hungry or they lose appetite.
Coughing and breathing also become difficult for them. This sickness will weaken your cat more day by day if not treated well.
Some Wicked Compounds:
When incense burns, the highly volatile compound emits during the heating or burning process. These emitting compounds contain stuff like toxic gas, benzene, and much more.
The emitting gasses are carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Such mentioned gasses and chemicals are toxic not only for humans but for cats and other pets as well.
Furthermore, cats’ lungs are more prone to environmental pollutants than humans. A severe case may happen if your cat ingests any incense oil stuff accidentally.
There is a chance of sticking aromatic compounds onto the cats’ fur and then they will lick themselves and gulp such toxic substances.
In this case, the cat will have disturbed digestion, some nervous disorders, and other illness.
Is Incense Bad for Cats? – What to Do If You Are Owning a Cat?
What to do if you could not avoid the incense at your home? People generally feel fresh with this aroma around or take this burning incense as a necessary meditation.
In this situation, you cannot compromise over the incense. But you also own a pet, and if you have a cat, it would be tough to manage both at a time.
Many risks are associated with it. Let’s find out the way to enjoy incense along with your cat safely.
1) Place the Incense Away:
Always place the burning incense far away from your cat at home. Make sure that it has been kept out of reach of your cat from time to time.
Find a proper nook to place this or in a room where your cat is not allowed to enter. Find a safe place rather than a higher place, because most cats are very crafty to reach up the high places.
2) Proper Ventilation:
A very noteworthy consideration is proper ventilation. Always focus on the aeration in the room where incense is burning. The resulted smoke contains particles that cause various issues if remains indoor.
That particle will settle down in cats’ lungs and cause the asthma problem. So, maintain the aeration at home.
Open your window to let the particles out of the room and fresh air in. However, your room size matters a lot so keep noticing if ventilation through the window is enough.
3) A Fine Quality Incense:
Incense quality matters a lot. Poor-quality incense will be causing more harmful particles in the air. The thing you need to understand is the difference between dipped and traditional incense.
The traditional incense is formed through ancient techniques. In this process, the raw materials are combined to form a powder. Then the honey is added to that powder and makes a dough.
Then bamboo stick is used to roll over that dough. This is, however, a time-consuming method and the incense sticks are delicate so these are the expensive incenses.
The dipped incense is of lower cost. This version is a mass-produced one. Charcoal powder or sawdust is used to the stick instead of the plain stick.
Various chemicals are used to treat this stick before dipping it into a scented mixture. In this way, chemicals will also burn with scent, unlike the traditional incense.
Thus, dipped incense will cause more smoke and particles. Your cat will be more affected. If you are intended to burn incense, always buy a fine quality product to keep the surrounding safe for you and your cat as well.
Is Incense Bad for Cats? – Alternative Options
If you love to keep your home scented and meditate yourself and also worried about your cat affected by the smoke and hazardous material. Then you must explore some cat or environment-friendly alternatives to burning incense.
Air purifiers are the best way to get rid of the toxic particles in your home. Although this is not the source of scent or any pleasant odor.
But it will be sanitizing the environment and removing unhealthy particles from the air. The room odor will be removed but the air purifier instead of locking it up.
In this way, you can create a safe environment for your cat along with having incense.
Another way is to create a homemade scent. You can easily create a kitchen scent. Use your stovetop for this purpose. But make sure that you are using the scents that can be tolerated by your cat. Keep your cat out of your kitchen during this.
Some herbs like rosemary and citrus are not recommended to be scented if you are a cat owner. You can also use an oven to make a scent instead of the stovetop.
People usually use cinnamon and vanilla to create a kitchen scent. Also, observe that your cat is not bothered by this aroma.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, all you need is proper management to have incense and cats at a time. Keep your cats away from burning incense. Always choose the less harmful incense or move to any incense alternative option that is not injurious to your cats’ health.