Cats and Milk

On Sun, 7 Jan 2007 06:16:31 -0600, "jmcquown"
wrote:

I know I've posted about this before but just curious. I keep hearing that
milk is bad for cats, yet I grew up hearing about "cats and cream" (or
milk). I know lots of people buy special "milk" for cats; goats milk and
soy milk. When Persia first came to me I asked the vet about giving Persia
milk. He said no problem, just not in large quantities. It's the one
"treat" I can give her.

I drink low-fat milk. When Persia sees the milk jug come out of the
refrigerator she starts yowling until I pour a couple of tablespoonfuls in a
bowl for her. She's never had any adverse reactions to milk.

How about your cats?

Most of mine love half and half (milk/cream) - I think they stop
consuming it because they get enough cream before they get too much
milk. I'v never had a problem with that, but I have seen some get the
runs from plain milk.

--
T.E.D. ) Remove "gearbox.maem" to get real address - that one is dead

jmcquown wrote:
I know I've posted about this before but just curious. I keep hearing that
milk is bad for cats, yet I grew up hearing about "cats and cream" (or
milk). I know lots of people buy special "milk" for cats; goats milk and
soy milk. When Persia first came to me I asked the vet about giving Persia
milk. He said no problem, just not in large quantities. It's the one
"treat" I can give her.

I drink low-fat milk. When Persia sees the milk jug come out of the
refrigerator she starts yowling until I pour a couple of tablespoonfuls in a
bowl for her. She's never had any adverse reactions to milk.

How about your cats?

Jill

It's not that milk is bad for cats per se; it's just that some cats are
lactose-intolerant. Not all cats for sure; you already know Persia
isn't. All of mine have had a turn finishing up the Cheerio milk in the
morning and it doesn't cause any digestive upset in any of them. Heavy
cream is a treat they absolute love, too, or Half & Half, whichever I
buy. We used to have barn cats as a kid, and boy did they know when
milking time was. They gathered in a little circle around my grandpa,
who would fill their bowl up first. IIRC, milk certainly isn't
something that's necessary in their diet though. Just a treat thing I
suppose.

Sherry

"jmcquown" wrote

I know I've posted about this before but just curious. I keep hearing that
milk is bad for cats, yet I grew up hearing about "cats and cream" (or
milk). I know lots of people buy special "milk" for cats; goats milk and
soy milk. When Persia first came to me I asked the vet about giving
Persia
milk. He said no problem, just not in large quantities. It's the one
"treat" I can give her.

I drink low-fat milk. When Persia sees the milk jug come out of the
refrigerator she starts yowling until I pour a couple of tablespoonfuls in
a
bowl for her. She's never had any adverse reactions to milk.

How about your cats?

A few of them seem to enjoy a small amount of goat milk now and then, but I
have noticed that it takes the whole group a full 24-hour day to lap up a
single cupful, and another serving in the same week will be ignored. So I've
had to freeze the remains of a can of evaporated goat milk to avoid having
it spoil. I've tried giving reconstituted powdered goat milk and they will
not touch it no matter how much or how little water I use. On rare occasions
when I've been at a restaurant and was served half-and-half in individual
plastic serving containers, I've slipped those into my pocket and given to
the cats later, and they seem to enjoy it, but it does give them very loose
stools, which goat milk does not. I have not looked for lactose-free human
milk, as I didn't know it existed. Once I found "cat milk" on the shelf at a
discount grocery and bought it. The cats drank it but did not seem
especially enthused about it.

jmcquown wrote:

I drink low-fat milk. When Persia sees the milk jug come out of the
refrigerator she starts yowling until I pour a couple of tablespoonfuls in a
bowl for her. She's never had any adverse reactions to milk.

How about your cats?


Caliban loves milk. Whenever I take the carton out of the fridge, he
comes running for his treat, and I pour some on a plate for him. I drink
fat-free milk, so a little treat now and then should be alright. He
hasn't had any adverse reactions to it, but I hear that many cats are
lactose-intolerant.

--
Marina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki.
Stories and pics at http://koti.welho.com/mkurten/
Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/
and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki

jmcquown wrote:

I know I've posted about this before but just curious. I keep hearing that
milk is bad for cats, yet I grew up hearing about "cats and cream" (or
milk). I know lots of people buy special "milk" for cats; goats milk and
soy milk. When Persia first came to me I asked the vet about giving Persia
milk. He said no problem, just not in large quantities. It's the one
"treat" I can give her.

I drink low-fat milk. When Persia sees the milk jug come out of the
refrigerator she starts yowling until I pour a couple of tablespoonfuls in a
bowl for her. She's never had any adverse reactions to milk.

How about your cats?

Of course, when I was growing up, people just ASSUMED you
fed cats milk. (along with table left-overs, largely - who
could afford to buy special food made just for cats?)
Considering all the thousands of generations of barn cats
who have lined up at milking time, hoping for a squirt or
two direct from the source, I wouldn't hesitate to feed it
to a cat who liked it, and had not exhibited a bad reaction.

Frankly, I am astonished by the number of HUMANS who seem to
be allergic to milk, nowadays. I don't deny the allergy
exists, but WHY, when milk used to be the "normal" beverage
for children (and even many adults) at mealtime? What has
changed in the human gene-pool, to make what was once a rare
condition so commonplace?

On 2007-01-07 12:37:00 -0800, "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)"
said:



jmcquown wrote:

I know I've posted about this before but just curious. I keep hearing that
milk is bad for cats, yet I grew up hearing about "cats and cream" (or
milk). I know lots of people buy special "milk" for cats; goats milk and
soy milk. When Persia first came to me I asked the vet about giving Persia
milk. He said no problem, just not in large quantities. It's the one
"treat" I can give her.

I drink low-fat milk. When Persia sees the milk jug come out of the
refrigerator she starts yowling until I pour a couple of tablespoonfuls in a
bowl for her. She's never had any adverse reactions to milk.

How about your cats?

Of course, when I was growing up, people just ASSUMED you fed cats
milk. (along with table left-overs, largely - who could afford to buy
special food made just for cats?) Considering all the thousands of
generations of barn cats who have lined up at milking time, hoping for
a squirt or two direct from the source, I wouldn't hesitate to feed it
to a cat who liked it, and had not exhibited a bad reaction.

Frankly, I am astonished by the number of HUMANS who seem to be
allergic to milk, nowadays. I don't deny the allergy exists, but WHY,
when milk used to be the "normal" beverage for children (and even many
adults) at mealtime? What has changed in the human gene-pool, to make
what was once a rare condition so commonplace?

Actually, lactose TOLERANCE is NOT the norm for most adult humans.
Virtually all mammals (including humans) lose the ability to digest
milk once they're weaned (it's a metabolic waste to continue to produce
enzymes that are no longer necessary). Only a relatively few human
populations (mostly from northern Europe, but a few from parts of
Africa) who have a mutation which allows them to continue to digest
milk into adulthood. This mutation arose in a number of human
populations at various times, but only in those groups that herded
cattle did it give a selective advantage by allowing those individuals
who had the mutation to consume a food source that made everyone
without the mutation sick. In cats, the same thing applies. Most get
sick from milk. Those cats who are part of a barn population where milk
is a regular treat are more likely to carry the mutation than those who
are part of a barn population where cattle are raised for meat because
those who can't tolerate it get weeded out through natural selection.
What you're percieving as a change in the human gene pool is the effect
of a *mixing* of different gene pools- those from areas where milk is
not part of the normal adult diet are migrating to areas where it is.
This migration contributes to gene flow and spreads the non-mutated
gene back into populations which *do* normally consume milk. Isn't
evolution neat?

Katrina

--
History: special people in special places at special times
Anthropology: everyone else the rest of the time
-KWorley, 1997

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Marina wrote:
jmcquown wrote:

I drink low-fat milk. When Persia sees the milk jug come out of the
refrigerator she starts yowling until I pour a couple of
tablespoonfuls in a bowl for her. She's never had any adverse
reactions to milk.

How about your cats?


Caliban loves milk. Whenever I take the carton out of the fridge, he
comes running for his treat, and I pour some on a plate for him. I
drink fat-free milk, so a little treat now and then should be
alright. He hasn't had any adverse reactions to it, but I hear that
many cats are lactose-intolerant.

Same reaction here, Marina. If Persia sees the milk jug she starts
vocalizing. She only gets a Tablespoonful but she laps it up. Since I like
to drink milk (low fat or skim = fat free) I sometimes have to make sure
she's not around when I pour myself a glass. She goes nuts if she sees me
take it out of the refrigerator!

EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:
jmcquown wrote:

I drink low-fat milk. When Persia sees the milk jug come out of the
refrigerator she starts yowling until I pour a couple of
tablespoonfuls in a bowl for her. She's never had any adverse
reactions to milk.

Of course, when I was growing up, people just ASSUMED you
fed cats milk. (along with table left-overs, largely - who
could afford to buy special food made just for cats?)
Considering all the thousands of generations of barn cats
who have lined up at milking time, hoping for a squirt or
two direct from the source, I wouldn't hesitate to feed it
to a cat who liked it, and had not exhibited a bad reaction.

Frankly, I am astonished by the number of HUMANS who seem to
be allergic to milk, nowadays. I don't deny the allergy
exists, but WHY, when milk used to be the "normal" beverage
for children (and even many adults) at mealtime? What has
changed in the human gene-pool, to make what was once a rare
condition so commonplace?

I don't know, Evelyn. I am also astonished at the peanut allergies which
sure weren't prevalent when I was a child. Suddenly you can't send kids to
school with peanut butter sandwiches lest some kid go into convulsions. I
don't understand it. PB&J was the lunch of choice in the 1950's and 1960's.
Cheap and so easy even Dad could do it! LOL

Now you get kids going into anaphylactic shock if they so much as breathe
anywhere near a peanut. Makes no sense to me.

The only thing I can think is that we are so desentizing ourselves, what
with things like Purell hand wash, wipes, and antibiotic soaps that our
bodies no longer know how to handle every day "contaminants". Me, I don't
get sick from touching a door knob or if someone sneezes in my general
vicinity. Germs are a matter of course. I'm immune to most of them. If I
were raised in a bubble and let loose into the world I'd probably collapse
within minutes. LOL

I do get occasional sinus and ear infections (the two go hand in hand thanks
to the eustachian tube) but those are bacterial, not viral infections and
cannot be transmitted person to person.

Jill

I can't have a bowl of cereal or my nightly milk and cookies unless rumble
shares. Some the others tend to ignore it unless I rub some on their lips
Ka' Shay is hit or miss.

But I do remember the barn cats coming in every time we milked the goats or
the cows for their fair share. When we churned butter we had a audience at
all times


"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
I know I've posted about this before but just curious. I keep hearing that
milk is bad for cats, yet I grew up hearing about "cats and cream" (or
milk). I know lots of people buy special "milk" for cats; goats milk and
soy milk. When Persia first came to me I asked the vet about giving
Persia
milk. He said no problem, just not in large quantities. It's the one
"treat" I can give her.

I drink low-fat milk. When Persia sees the milk jug come out of the
refrigerator she starts yowling until I pour a couple of tablespoonfuls in
a
bowl for her. She's never had any adverse reactions to milk.

How about your cats?

Jill

Katrina wrote:
On 2007-01-07 12:37:00 -0800, "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)"
said:
jmcquown wrote:

I drink low-fat milk. When Persia sees the milk jug come out of the
refrigerator she starts yowling until I pour a couple of
tablespoonfuls in a bowl for her. She's never had any adverse
reactions to milk.

How about your cats?

Frankly, I am astonished by the number of HUMANS who seem to be
allergic to milk, nowadays. I don't deny the allergy exists, but
WHY, when milk used to be the "normal" beverage for children (and
even many adults) at mealtime? What has changed in the human
gene-pool, to make what was once a rare condition so commonplace?

Actually, lactose TOLERANCE is NOT the norm for most adult humans.

Can you site some sources for this? I've been drinking milk all my adult
life and I'm almost 47 years old. Never had a problem. I love milk. Have
no problem drinking milk. Or eating cheese. Or any dairy products. I find
it hard to believe that "once weaned" people (or animals) can no longer
tolerate milk. That just doesn't make any sense. John (who is 60) loves a
good cold glass of milk when we have breakfast, as do I. So, please back up
this statement with some factual data. Won't really matter, since I know
everyone in my family and my LLL and Persia! (who is an adult cat) love and
can and do drink milk

Jill