Yogurt?

I noticed a lot when looking at BARF/RAW diets for cats and dogs, yogurt is one of the foods you can give them. I'm wondering if it's okay to give Spike a small spoon of plain yogurt as a little treat now and then or if it will cause lactose intolerance. He tends to get bored of lactose-free kitty milk after a couple days. Anyone know if this is okay or not?

Yogurt is lower in lactose than cow's milk so a small amount of yogurt should be fine. Mine occassioanlly get cottage cheese. I started givng them very small amounts to get them used to it without digestive upsets and now they get a spoonful each and have never had a problem from it. If you are worried, try giving just 1/2 spoonful at first gradually increasing to a whole spoonful...thats the best way to avoid digestive upsets.

Actually the acidophilus in yogurt is wonderful for the digestion!! So, yogurt is also very good for him health wise and if he likes it wonderful.

I give all my cats yogurt (plain) every day. They love it. I also give it to them when they have digestive upset. It settles their stomach.

Oh great! Thanks for all the replies. Now I just hope he likes it.

I have yogurt almost every day for lunch. One of my cats Quincy is addicted to it and sits and stares wistfully at me while I eat. I always let him lick the lid and and as much of the container as he can get his tongue into after I'm finished. If I leave my yogurt unattended, (before I'm finished with it) I won't be able to finish it, he'll have his "mush" in there doing his best to slurp up as much as possible before I notice him.

Oh, that's so cute! I hope Spike likes it that much.

I don't know much about how great it is for felines, but it has some great benefits for us humans. If you have a yeast infection, eat some yogurt..it will kill the bad bacteria. If you are on antibotics and it gives you diahreah, eat some yogurt. Antibotics kills the good and the bad bacteria...so the yogurt will help you produce the good bacteria in your digestive tract. Also, it's good as a mask for you face if your skin is dry (though I've never tried this...read it in a magazine!).
Just thought I'd share those little tips with you all...

Erm. So I went and bought a little container of yogurt for Spike. I couldn't find a regular (non-lowfat) container of plain yogurt in a single size... only HUGE containers of them, so I didn't get that. I ended up buying a Dannon Light 'n Fit plain yogurt thing, and Spike doesn't like it. I'm sure the lack of fat in it doesn't make it very tasty. So anyway, what I'm wondering is - how bad is flavored yogurt for cats? Such as vanilla? I'm going to list the ingrediants, so if anyone knows if this is okay for a little furball, please let me know. (In the meantime, I'm still searching for a non-lowfat variety of plain yogurt for him.)

Cultured Grade A Nonfat Milk, Modified Corn Starch, Fructose, Contains less than 1% of Aspartame, Kosher Geletin, Citric Acid, Natural Flavor, Potassium Sorbate (to maintain freshness), Annatto Extract (for color), Caramel Color, Vitamin A Palmitate, Vitamin D3.
It also contains Active Yogurt Cultures including L.ACIDOPHILUS.

I should mention, this is only for little treat for him, so if I can't give it to him, that's fine, I'm just looking for something new to entertain his taste buds that's easy.