Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hi brain Stuff Lauren vogel Bomb here with a classic episode from our archives. The temptation to give pets human food can be strong. Sometimes as a treat it's harmless, but some people food is best kept for people, which brings us to our question of the day, Should you actually give cats milk? Hey brain Stuffed Lauren vogel Bomb here. From children's books to TV commercials, the idea that cats
are wild about milk is everywhere. Yet what pop culture fails to show is what happens shortly after that bowl of milk is empty. The cute kitty peacefully lapping away at a bowl of fresh milk is likely to spend the next few hours suffering from diarrhea, gas, bloating, and other unpleasant side effects. Cats, like most adult mammals, including many humans, are lactose intolerant. That means they lack the enzymes needed to break down lactose, these sugars found in milk.
A bowl of milk isn't likely to be deadly, but the after effects are likely to trouble both the cat and the owner who has to clean up the mess. If your cat seems to tolerate milk to an extent, or if you simply want to offer your cat something special, consider milk like any other treat. Since milk has little nutritional value to the cat, it's no substitute for proper cat food and should be served to the cat with the same care that you would any other human foods
or commercial cat treats. That means making sure that milk and other treats make up only ten to of a cat's diet. To avoid potential weight problems and the health troubles that come with them, consider limiting milk to no more than twenty to thirty calories per day. That's no more than a few spoonfuls. Consider lactose free milk or goat's milk to reduce digestive problems. But what about kittens.
Surely they need milk, right. While kittens have the ability to digest some lactose, their bodies simply aren't designed to deal with the level of lactose found in cow's milk, which has about three times as much tost as that of a mama cat. Drinking cow's milk will not only give kitten's diarrhea, but will actually cause them to slowly
starve to death if their diet isn't properly supplemented. The ratio of casin's and whey, which are milks molecular keepers of proteins, fats, and sugars in cow's milk, is nowhere near sufficient to support a growing kitten. If you're attempting to nurse kittens without the help of their mom, pick up special cat's milk at the pet store. This milk is specially formulated to provide the right ratio of casin's and way to meet the nutritional needs of kittens without
the painful digestive issues associated with cow's milk. Today's episode was written by Bambi Turner and produced by Tristan McNeil and Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots of other topics, visit hous toff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for My Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or ever you listen to your favorite shows.