humidifiers for dogs

Humidifier for Dogs? Does Humidity Affect Your Pets?

Are humidifiers good for dogs?

Winter is the time of the year when the relative humidity usually drops  below the point that is healthy, not only for the people in your house, but also your dogs and other pets.

Low Humidity affects animals, much the same way as it does humans.

It dries out the skin and facilitates the travel of germs and bacteria through the air.

Dry skin makes an excellent breeding ground for acne and other conditions like psoriasis on people,

humidity and dogsBut it can be an even bigger problem for dogs.

Why is that?

Dogs can’t resist scratching. They will scratch themselves raw. And dry skin is itchy.

And without enough moisture in the air to keep the dust from floating, airborne bacteria can attach itself to a dog’s hide and cause even more itchy havoc.

And you can see, low humidity is not a canine’s friend.

humidifier for dogs

What type of humidifier is the best humidifier for dogs?

A cool mist wick humidifier is the best for dogs because it doesn’t make the air steamy or emit a high pitch sound.

But it might be better to explain why certain types and features of humidifiers are not recommended for dogs.

Steam humidifiers are not the best for dogs.

Steam can make a room feel swampy.
That’s not such a good feeling and if you have a permanent coat on, it can be miserable.

Steam humidifiers are also the ones that usually come with the mentholated
Additives that you can put in the humidifier and are supposed to help with congestion.

But these additives have an ingredient in them called camphor that is poisonous for dogs and most animals.

Aromatherapy and essential oils like treaty oil and eucalyptus are also dangerous for pets.

So even though it’s a nice feature on a humidifier to have the capacity to use it with essential oils, it should not be used as a diffuser for your dog.

Another type of humidifier that is not recommended for dogs is the Ultrasonic.

  It’s all in the name of these humidifiers. “Ultra” and “Sonic”

These humidifiers are very quiet for humans.

But for dogs, they can make a very high pitched noise that is an irritation.

On the same lines of a dog whistle, people can’t hear one, but dogs hear them very loudly.

Best Humidifier for Dogs

The best humidifier for dogs is a humidifier that suits not only your animals, but your own needs too.

Very rarely does a dog have his own area, where he can also have a humidifier that is exclusively for him or her.

The best humidifier for dogs or people is currently the Levoit.

Humidifiers have come a long way. They’re not your mama’s humidifier, you might say.

These days they come with some pretty elaborate features

1. Hygrometer

A hygrometer is like a thermometer but instead of measuring the temperature, it measures the relative humidity.

Why is this important?

Because how do you know if your humidity has dipped under the 40% mark that is the lowest you want your relative humidity to drop. 40 to 60% humidity is optimal.

2. Hydrostat

This is similar to a thermostat on the furnace, except for it controls the humidifier according to the hygrometer settings.

A hydrostat feature ensures that humidity stays at the optimal point.

3.  Auto shut off

There was a time that if you had a humidifier running in the house, it would keep running regardless of whether it ran out of water or not.

Not so with humidifiers these days.

Auto shut off turns the power off on your humidifier when it runs out of water.

4.  Easy to clean

A humidifier that is dishwasher safe and easy to clean is an important feature because of the amount of maintenance humidifiers require to keep them from accumulating bacteria and mold.

5.  Cool mist / warm mist optional

Warm mist may not be preferable for dogs but there are times when you want to have the option of using steam instead of cool mist.

Gone are the days where you had to have a humidifier for cool mist and a vaporizer for warm mist. Levoit has this feature and performed well in either capacity.

6.  Aromatherapy /essential oil ready

Again not a feature you want to use when your dog is in the house. Most essential oils that are geared towards breathing better contain menthol which is not good for dogs.

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have the option of using a humidifier as an aromatherapy diffuser when you want or need to.

7. Wifi

Humidifiers have joined the Wi-Fi craze.

Wi-Fi gives you the capacity to check the relative humidity right from your phone,
Turn the humidifier on or off remotely or schedule a time you wanted to go on or off.
It also has bells and whistles like alerting you when your water is too low or when it is time to maintain your humidifier again.

8. Remote

A remote goes without saying these days. Every device in your bedroom needs a remote. Who wants to get up out of bed and turn down a humidifier or turn it on?

9. Large tank

A large tank is one of the biggest necessities in my opinion when it comes to finding the right humidifier.
A humidifier that has to be filled too often is a humidifier that is probably not going to get the use it needs.
A Humidifier with a large tank cuts down on the amount of refilling and can make your life much easier.

humidity affects dogsRecap

Dogs can have adverse reactions to low humidity and humans can, and maybe even more.

More because, when dry skin causes a person to itch, they typically don’t scratch till they are completely raw.

But that can’t be said of dogs. They would generally scratch themselves till they’re bleeding if they are itchy enough.

A humidifier for dogs it’s a great way to add moisture to the air when they are having scratching and itching episodes related to dry skin.

But there are definitely some features that some humidifiers have that are not cohesive with dogs and can cause them more discomfort and even be poisonous to them.

Ultrasonic air humidifiers are known for being extremely quiet to humans but they may be too loud for dogs since they have such sensitive hearing.

Warm mist humidifiers can make a room feel swampy especially for dogs and other animals.

Warm mist humidifiers or steamers generally come with some type of menthol additive that can be dangerous to dogs also.

Essential oils like eucalyptus and tea tree oil should be avoided when you are using a humidifier for dogs also.

Published by

Dennis Reed

Dennis Reed Owner and Author @ BreatheBetterAir.org