Close

You must be logged in to love this post! Please sign in:

Close

You must be logged in to follow this post! Please sign in:

Janice (Leesburg, VA) on 04/06/2009
1 out of 5 stars

Warning

Tea Tree Oil Toxic for Jack Russell: I foolishly poured straight Tea Tree Oil on my Jack Russell Terrier's back thinking it may help sooth an itching problem he had. Within a few hours he was paralyzed. He could only lay on his side, and fell over if I tried to help him stand. The Pet Poison Hot Line told me immediately that Tea Tree Oil was a neurotoxin to dogs. They said there was nothing that could be done, it would have to work itself out and he "might" live. For two days my dog layed on his side while I fed him with an eye dropper checking back with the poison hot line. A different representative told us to take him to the vet for fluids, which we did. They kept him a couple days, pumping him full of fluids and he pulled through. From that day on, our JRT immediately shied away from anything that had even the slightest scent of tea tree oil as an ingredient.
REPLY         

Replied By Frank (Greenwich, CT) on 04/06/2009

I researched this because I have used tea tree oil on my dogs a number of times over the years without any problems. There's a rumor that some of these side effects reported on tea tree oil for dogs are faked. I came across a very similar post recently on another web site about paralysis. Not to say it can't be true, but if they're posting fake reports all over the internet about the dangers of giving garlic to dogs (which has been used for centuries), I imagine it could be the same for tea tree oil.
REPLY         

Replied By Kb (Jupiter, Fl) on 07/07/2011

Just wanted to comment on this: We experienced exactly the same problem with tea tree oil. We have a 108 lbs Newfoundland (big dog) who has skin problems. Several months ago I had the bright idea of applying some tea tree oil on his skin, without doing any further research. Trust me that was not smart and a very scary experience. I applied maybe 7 or 8 drops of tea tree oil to a cotton ball and rubbed it on the spots that bothered him. Within an hour our big boy had trouble getting up and walking. He literally walked like a drunk and very soon did not want to walk or get up at all. After calling the emergency vet and they did not know anything about tea tree oil, one of the vet techs recommended to wash him with dawn dishwashing liquid to get the oil out of his coat (makes sense, they do the same for birds that are covered in oil). So we did - it helped but it took a total of at least 24 hours for our dog to be back on his feet.

I did look this problem up online afterwards and yes it is a neurotoxin to dogs, so be very careful with it. Some dogs may be ok but I would never ever try this again on any of my animals. So just because something works on humans does not mean it has the same effect on animals, and I usually trust tea tree oil.

REPLY         

Replied By Sindee (Santa Cruz, Ca. ) on 07/27/2016

Just an FYI: Tea Tree Oil in pure form is toxic to humans as well. I was foolish enough to experiment with a couple drops on my big toe trying to kill fungus and the surrounding skin was burned which took weeks to heal. It must be diluted if it's going to be used on skin otherwise it's a great product.
REPLY