Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hi
Speaker 1: brain Stuff Lauren vogel Bomb here with a classic episode
Speaker 1: from our archives. The temptation to give pets human food
Speaker 1: can be strong. Sometimes as a treat it's harmless, but
Speaker 1: some people food is best kept for people, which brings
Speaker 1: us to our question of the day, Should you actually
Speaker 1: give cats milk? Hey brain Stuffed Lauren vogel Bomb here.
Speaker 1: From children's books to TV commercials, the idea that cats
Speaker 1: are wild about milk is everywhere. Yet what pop culture
Speaker 1: fails to show is what happens shortly after that bowl
Speaker 1: of milk is empty. The cute kitty peacefully lapping away
Speaker 1: at a bowl of fresh milk is likely to spend
Speaker 1: the next few hours suffering from diarrhea, gas, bloating, and
Speaker 1: other unpleasant side effects. Cats, like most adult mammals, including
Speaker 1: many humans, are lactose intolerant. That means they lack the
Speaker 1: enzymes needed to break down lactose, these sugars found in milk.
Speaker 1: A bowl of milk isn't likely to be deadly, but
Speaker 1: the after effects are likely to trouble both the cat
Speaker 1: and the owner who has to clean up the mess.
Speaker 1: If your cat seems to tolerate milk to an extent,
Speaker 1: or if you simply want to offer your cat something special,
Speaker 1: consider milk like any other treat. Since milk has little
Speaker 1: nutritional value to the cat, it's no substitute for proper
Speaker 1: cat food and should be served to the cat with
Speaker 1: the same care that you would any other human foods
Speaker 1: or commercial cat treats. That means making sure that milk
Speaker 1: and other treats make up only ten to of a
Speaker 1: cat's diet. To avoid potential weight problems and the health
Speaker 1: troubles that come with them, consider limiting milk to no
Speaker 1: more than twenty to thirty calories per day. That's no
Speaker 1: more than a few spoonfuls. Consider lactose free milk or
Speaker 1: goat's milk to reduce digestive problems. But what about kittens.
Speaker 1: Surely they need milk, right. While kittens have the ability
Speaker 1: to digest some lactose, their bodies simply aren't designed to
Speaker 1: deal with the level of lactose found in cow's milk,
Speaker 1: which has about three times as much tost as that
Speaker 1: of a mama cat. Drinking cow's milk will not only
Speaker 1: give kitten's diarrhea, but will actually cause them to slowly
Speaker 1: starve to death if their diet isn't properly supplemented. The
Speaker 1: ratio of casin's and whey, which are milks molecular keepers
Speaker 1: of proteins, fats, and sugars in cow's milk, is nowhere
Speaker 1: near sufficient to support a growing kitten. If you're attempting
Speaker 1: to nurse kittens without the help of their mom, pick
Speaker 1: up special cat's milk at the pet store. This milk
Speaker 1: is specially formulated to provide the right ratio of casin's
Speaker 1: and way to meet the nutritional needs of kittens without
Speaker 1: the painful digestive issues associated with cow's milk. Today's episode
Speaker 1: was written by Bambi Turner and produced by Tristan McNeil
Speaker 1: and Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots of
Speaker 1: other topics, visit hous toff works dot com. Brain Stuff
Speaker 1: is production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for
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