Durban - A pet owner shared a warning in a Durban cat Facebook group over the use of fragrance diffusers after her cat came close to death last month.
The post, dated September 18, described the three weeks that the cat was ill and what the owners went through.
The woman said they first noticed discharge coming out of the female cat’s right nostril.
“It was mostly clear in nature and she was sneezing quite a bit. We took her to our vet and they thought she had an upper respiratory infection. We gave her antibiotics and went on our way,” she said.
However, a week later, the couple said the discharge had increased and turned bloody and the cat’s appetite had started to wane.
“We called the vet again and they had us come in and pick up another antibiotic/immune boost to add to her food,” she said.
The owner said the cat then stopped eating, stopped drinking and was isolating herself, and they noticed that she was not going to the bathroom as much.
“At this point, nothing was helping. She was dying and we knew it. All day Friday I cried and kept thinking about what we had done differently around the house and that’s when it hit me,” the owner said.
The woman recalled that a month prior to the cat falling ill, her husband had bought plug-in fragrance wall diffusers.
She said she had unplugged them, opened windows and turned on fans.
“By Friday evening Mit Meow was able to walk to us. Saturday morning she woke me up at 4.45am meowing and hungry. Her nasal discharge had stopped, she was eating,” she said.
The owner said the cat’s balance began improving and she wanted attention.
“After further investigation we learnt that several of these diffusers are toxic to animals and that they have more severe reactions to cats because they are at nose level to them,” advised the owner.
“The Mercury” asked Kloof SPCA manager Barbara Patrick about the effect that diffusers can have on cats.
“Our vet did confirm that a respiratory type reaction could happen to any perfume or other substance, and could present those symptoms,” she said.
However, Patrick could not provide further information as they had not treated or seen any cats or dogs with these symptoms.