Is Pine oil / Pine-Sol safe for dogs and cats?

Dogs are more resistant to pine oil toxicity than cats given their better glucuronidation capacity, but significant pine oil ingestion or high-concentration dermal exposure can still cause toxicosis. Dogs are primarily exposed through licking pine-oil-treated floors, ingesting pine oil cleaning products left accessible, or direct contact with concentrated pine cleaner. Clinical signs in dogs from pine oil exposure include vomiting, salivation, ataxia, and CNS depression at higher doses. The threshold for clinical effects in dogs is substantially higher than in cats. A dog licking a recently mopped floor (with diluted cleaner as directed) typically experiences at most mild GI irritation. However, ingestion of undiluted or highly concentrated pine cleaning products can produce significant vomiting, CNS signs, and hepatic irritation. Dogs should be kept off floors cleaned with pine-based products until the floor is thoroughly dry and rinsed.

Pine oil and pine-based cleaning products are among the most clinically significant household chemical hazards for cats. Pine oil contains a mixture of terpene alcohols — primarily alpha-terpineol — that are toxic to cats due to cats' severely deficient glucuronyl transferase activity. Alpha-terpineol and related terpene metabolites require efficient hepatic glucuronidation for elimination; cats accumulate these metabolites, causing progressive CNS depression, hepatic toxicity, and in severe cases respiratory failure. Clinical signs in cats following pine oil exposure include weakness, ataxia, low body temperature, muscle tremors, excessive drooling, difficulty breathing, and hepatic enzyme elevation. Pine-Sol and similar pine-scented disinfectants represent a particular hazard because they are used to clean floors and surfaces that cats subsequently walk on and groom from. Even 'clean' floors recently washed with pine-based products carry residual terpene alcohols that a cat can accumulate over repeated grooming episodes. The pine oil concentration in commercial cleaners varies; older Pine-Sol formulations contained 20–25% pine oil (alpha-terpineol as active ingredient), while current formulations have reduced or eliminated pine oil. Any product containing pine oil or alpha-terpineol should not be used in areas accessible to cats without thorough rinsing and drying.