How can I clean carpets safely for cats without using harsh chemicals?

I would not recommend using essential oils, cats are very sensitive to them and certain ones are highly toxic. I will be honest, I don't use a special cleaner in my home as a vet. I just don't let my animals into the clean area until it's completely dried, and I have never had an issue. Brands I use in New Zealand are likely different from ones you can get in the US, but even the cleaners you get at the grocery store are safe to use around your cat. Just don't let George in the area until it's completely dried. I hope this helps!

I would suspect the citrus oil could be irritating to a cats upper respiratory tract. With sensitive animals around using a vinegar and water solution is always a safe bet. Another suggestion would be to keep Melcho in a different area of the house while cleaning and allow him back in once everything has dried and the fumes have mostly dissipated. A bit depends on what type of allergic reaction he was having, if it's respiratory you want to avoid compounds with strong perfumes or fumes. Cats seem particularly sensitive to the Pine-Sol and Lysol type products. If it was more of a contact reaction to touching the cleaners then typically waiting till the area is completely dry may be safe. But in general vinegar and water solutions are very safe to use around cats and you should not need to remove him from the area you're working in. I hope this helps, thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach

It can be irritating to the skin and irritating to the stomach if a lot is ingested, but wouldn't be toxic beyond that. You can just rinse the areas that had contact with the cleaner with normal water. Flush the area for a minute and continue to keep her off of the carpet until it dries and she should be fine. I hope that helps and all is well with Shibuya.

You can use plain vinegar and water in a 50/50 dilution to clean most hard surfaces. Commercial products that are safe to use include Green Works wipes, the Seventh Generation line and the Mrs. Meyer's line of "eco-cleaners".

Most household cleaning products are fine to use around your cat. There is no serious harm here if you are using products and then allowing them to airdry. The main concern is that some aerosolized cleaning products can cause irritation of your cats airway in some cases. However, most of these products will also cause you discomfort as well, so use your best judgement here. In most situations if you can handle exposure to the product, then so can your pet. As far as ingesting products go, you just have to make sure not to leave out any buckets of cleaner that your cat could potentially get into, and you are basically covered here as well. If you are still a bit worried about your pet, you can also switch all your household products to more organic cleaning products such as Green Works or the Mrs. Meyers products, which are derived from 98% natural products. I hope that this helps! Best of luck with your kitty and safe cleaning practices. Take care.

I would be cautious using this around your cat. Since the shampoo isn't something that will remain on your hair since you rinse it out, the chance of exposure is low, but cats are particularly sensitive to peppermint oil. Even breathing the aroma of peppermint oil can cause shortness of breath and increased heart rate. Again, since you're rinsing it out and it's a very small amount in the shampoo, I feel the chance of there being a problem is small, but I would be careful, maybe changing the time your wash your hair to earlier in the day so the scent will have dissipated by bedtime. Rosemary can also be toxic to cats though I haven't been able to find any further information about how toxic it may be.

I did research the name, and I could not find any information about it being toxic to cats. I suspect that if it was causing problems, it would have come up on my veterinary database. However, I am not a big fan of essential oils in cats. They do not tolerate them as well as dogs do. So, I would not use it again in my cats to be on the safe side. I think that they are going to be just fine. If they did start to show irritation - you will need to bathe in Dawn dish soap to get the oil off. I don't expect it at all, but just wanted to let you know what to use if they did get irritated. Good luck! Thanks for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!