CAN I GIVE MILK TO MY CAT/KITTEN?
Firstly, I’d like to mention that milk can take your cat’s life. This is a super important article, so make sure you read through all of it!
Now, if we talk about whether we should be giving our cats milk or not, the answer would be no. When given cow milk, most cats will get ill (and possibly die). Only follow the diet your breeder has given you. If the kitten drinks cow milk from before, you can provide it with cow milk. However, milk doesn’t really have many benefits. Some people might not be aware that all cats are lactose intolerant. This means they aren’t able to digest milk. Some stray and even house cats can digest milk only because they have been given cow milk since they were kittens.
Giving your kitten milk has a lot of risks and hardly any benefits. Kittens/cats get ill when given even a little milk. They will be dehydrated and will most likely suffer from diarrhea.
If your cat has been drinking cow milk since it was a kitten, you can give it cow milk. As they constantly drink cow milk, lactose enzymes form to help digest it. If you still want your kitten to drink cow milk, give it when it’s at least about 4 months old. However, it may become ill so I would not recommend cow milk and instead stick to lactose-free or kitten replacement milk. Bear in mind that lactose-free dairy can cause diarrhea.
A widespread illness in cats is constipation. It becomes hard for them to litter. They don’t have water in their body, so in this situation, milk is beneficial.
A common question some breeders have is, what do you do if a newborn kitten doesn’t have a mother? In this situation, you should give the kitten lactose-free milk.
You can give a stray cat cow milk because they have strong immunity and so will be able to digest it. This will prevent them from starving, and you’ll be helping a cat with no shelter, owners, and, of course, food. However if possible you should give them any pieces of chicken or meat that don’t have any spices in them etc.
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