I'm sure eucalyptus oil makes a pretty good deterrent on ferrets ..  but
it's still something I'd be REALLY hesitant to use on mine, because it is
so toxic.
 
Here is what it says about eucalyptus oil use on people in The Consumer's
Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients, by Ruth Winter, M.S.:
 
"It can cause allergic reactions, and fatalities have followed ingestion
of doses as small as 3 to 5 milliliters (about equal to a teaspoon).
About 1 milliliter has caused coma".
 
If only 1/5th of a teaspoon was enough to cause a coma in a 100+ lb. human,
I can only imagine how little it would take to harm an animal that weighs
2 or 3 pounds. :-<
 
Eucalyptus contains a lot of camphor, too, which is not only very toxic,
but is really irritating to the skin when applied "straight".  Even when I
use eucalyptus oil when I make soap, I've found that I have to dilute it
with other (more gentle) essential oils quite a bit, or it will irritate a
lot of people who use it ...
 
- Ela
 
   (000)___(000)        Ela Heyn
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[Posted in FML issue 3314]