| |  | | Patchouli and Pets
Answered by: Kerry Hackett
Question from: Lori
Posted on: April 09, 2010
Can you tell me - is the Patchouli plant toxic to cats and dogs?
I have been through all my resources and unfortunately can find no direct answer to your question. Patchouli is best known when employed as an essential oil in perfumes and aromatherapy. In this form, it is not recommended for internal use in humans and I would extend this caution to dogs and particularly cats. In addition, this is a plant that naturally contains a high level of essential oils (15,000 - 58,000 ppm) which can be implicated in liver toxicity and ultimately death. Given all of this, I would be inclined to keep a Patchouli plant well away from pets and children who may inadvertantly be interested in giving it a taste. For further information regarding essential oils and plants, please see the following postings on this website: (www.richters.com) "Pennyroyal Plants, Cats and Essential Oils" and "Pennyroyal, Dogs and Fleas". Although these postings refer to Pennyroyal, both it and Patchouli are in the same plant family and share some of the same characteristics.
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