Do all cats become lactose intolerant?

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Al Kondo - 15 Oct 2003 21:10 GMT

I have two kittens who are now 9 weeks old. I have been raising them
since they were a week old since they were orphaned by their mother.
I have slowly weaned them so that now they eat solid food readily.
However, I am having a hard time getting them to drink water. I
still give them formula as their source of liquid. I have been
diluting it so that eventually they will be drinking only water.
However, it seems that they stop drinking the formula when it gets too
diluted. Is there any reason why they can't continue to drink a thin
formula mix into adulthood?

Thanks, Al Kondo

Reply to this Message

Sherry - 15 Oct 2003 23:54 GMT

>I have two kittens who are now 9 weeks old. I have been raising them
>since they were a week old since they were orphaned by their mother.
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
>Thanks, Al Kondo

All cats don't become lactose intolerate; out of my crew only one is. Isn't
kitten formula lactose-free, though? Anyway, I don't see any reason they can't
drink it, for the first year, for sure. The only thing I can think of is that
it would be detrimental is if they started getting too fat, (but that's pretty
unusual for cats under 1 year)
Good luck with your babies.
Sherry

Reply to this Message

Liz - 16 Oct 2003 13:34 GMT

I don´t know the formula you are talking about but answering your
question, not all cats become lactose intolerant. All my 14 cats can
(and do) drink milk without digestive upsets.

Reply to this Message

Yngver - 16 Oct 2003 16:47 GMT

>I don´t know the formula you are talking about but answering your
>question, not all cats become lactose intolerant. All my 14 cats can
>(and do) drink milk without digestive upsets.

I agree. Although I've seen various estimates on what percentage of cats become
lactose intolerant, I've never had one that was. I do have one cat that doesn't
particularly like milk, but all of the cats that I've had that liked it were
able to drink it without any problems.

Reply to this Message

Elizabeth Blake - 17 Oct 2003 04:13 GMT

> I agree. Although I've seen various estimates on what percentage of cats become
> lactose intolerant, I've never had one that was. I do have one cat that doesn't
> particularly like milk, but all of the cats that I've had that liked it were
> able to drink it without any problems.

My cat Tiger (13 years old) love milk/milk products. She's never had any
problems. Otto, who is 4, will puke after just a few laps of ice cream or
milk. I have two cats at work and neither of them have shown any interest
in even trying milk. Harriet once tried some Half & Half (no problem) but
wouldn't drink it after the first time.

Liz

Reply to this Message