This happens to us too, which is why some humans are also severely lactose intolerant. While they can digest their mother’s milk when they’re kittens, as they age, they lose the lactase enzyme that helps break the lactose in milk into easily digested sugars. The biggest problem is that cats are lactose intolerant. However, cats don’t benefit from dairy products, and regularly giving your cat milk can cause more problems than benefits 1. Image Credit: Dmitri Ma, Shutterstock Is Milk Bad for Cats?Ĭats rarely drink water when they should, so it can be tempting to make your cat’s diet more interesting by giving them milk.

Cats, with their sensitive noses, can smell the fat content in milk and will be drawn to it even if they’ve never eaten any type of dairy product before.Īlthough the fat content was much higher in the past, when cow’s milk came from small family farms and wasn’t processed, today’s skimmed milk still has plenty of fat and protein to interest cats. Milk and other dairy products, like yogurt, cheese, and ice cream are full of natural fats. The biggest reason that cats love milk so much is the fat and protein content. This can result in problems like a bad stomachache, diarrhea, and vomiting. Once they grow out of their need for their mother’s milk, milk-drinking cats can suffer from gastrointestinal problems due to their inability to properly digest lactose. This is why cats-and many humans-are lactose intolerant. Unfortunately, as they grow, mammals slowly stop producing this enzyme and gradually lose their ability to digest milk. Mammals are born with an enzyme that breaks down the lactose in milk into more easily digested simple sugars. Unfortunately, this reliance on milk doesn’t last once your kitten starts eating solid food.

Milk gives them the calcium, fat, protein, and other nutrients that they need to start growing properly. They Are MammalsĬats are mammals, and like us and many other animals, they start their lives relying on the milk from their mother. Fortunately, there are milk alternatives you can give them instead.

There are two reasons that cats like milk so much, despite it not being good for them. That said, many cats love milk whenever they get the chance to drink it. This perception comes from farm cats from bygone eras lapping at the fatty topping of unprocessed cow’s milk and popular cartoons depicting a house cat’s fondness for a saucer of milk.ĭespite the stereotype, however, cats should not consume milk and other dairy products because these can give them a bad stomachache. A cat lapping at a bowl of milk is something that we all think of when it comes to felines.

Wic approved lactose free milk