In your opinion, can cats eat yogurt on a regular basis?

Anne

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Do you provide yogurt as a treat for your cats or as part of their diet? If so, can you please let us know which kind (fat percentage, any flavors). Pictures of cats licking yogurt would be great to have here as well!

I'm trying to put together an article on the topic, so fishing for information, pictures, thoughts, stories and ideas. Thanks!
 

helsic

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I don´t! my kitten looks curious when I'm drinking yogurt and he tries to get some but I know cats shouldn't drink cows' milk since they´re mostly lactose intolerant. I have never feed my kitty any dairy product except for Kitten milk goat formula when he was 2 weeks old.
 

xcourtney3

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Not yogurt, but my cat sticks his head in and drinks my cereal milk/eats my ice cream with no ill effects. So lactose intolerance isn't always an issue. 
 

claud

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I have given mine very very small amounts of plain, non-fat organic kefir and sometimes yogurt. I know cats are not supposed to tolerate dairy but my understanding is that kefir and yogurt are much more digestible and have all the pro-biotics that can help the gut. The pro-biotics in it actually help the body deal with it and digest it. (To the best of my knowledge) To be honest,  need to research it more, but some cat foods now have pro-biotics in the ingredients (Like Blue? ) and I believe that is dairy based.

I'm certainly not advocating it, this is just what has been working for my FIV kitty. I just did this amazing online course about gut biomes and a massive amount of our immunity is based in the gut. Living in sterile conditions, plus use of antibiotics has wiped out a lot of those healthy gut bugs. I assume this would be true for cats too, especially indoor cats like mine.

We get much of the good bugs from dirt and the air outside. Walking in woods, there are microbes everywhere and we need to breath those in, get them on our food and eat them. We should basically be eating dirt. That is how children build their immunity. It is healthy for children to get as much varied exposure to germs as possible. We are supposed to get sick to some degree, fight it off and build our immunity.

Pro-biotics is just one way for humans to start restoring these healthy bugs. It is like a small part of the puzzle though. We need to be outside, eat dirt, breath fresh air, be around people, and interact with nature really. The same for cats.  I know that cats are not supposed to have dairy and that it is counter-intuitive to give my cat kefir. But he was very ill, emaciated, living in the street and had FIV. The kefir is organic, plain, full of probiotics which is supposed to make it much more digestible, and I know that when he started having little bits of it - he was more well. He was.

The first night I had him, he had a fever of 103. The vet told me there was nothing she could do. She gave him fluids, that's it. I had a feeding syringe - the kind without a needle for med - and I put some kefir mixed with warm water and gave him a little, i mean a little, but every 2 or 3 hours. I also gave him tiny bits of wet food mixed with warm water. At some point he seemed to relax. His tummy seemed happier. He cooled down. I felt like putting this stuff that I knew at least was pure through his system and his gut was giving him nutrients and something his body needed.

He never had diarrhea. The fever went. He recovered. If I put a teaspoon of kefir in a dish, he will at some point lick it up and seems well & has no diarrhea.  Kefir is believed to help people a great deal with improved immunity. I believe they can show that it increases gut biomes. When he is really well I am giving it maybe 2 -3 times a week - 1/2 tablespoon. I wish I could get him out in the dirt. I have to figure out how to do this and keep him safe.

By the way, studies show that people who live with pets have much healthier skin biomes.

My feeling at the moment is that if we lived in the wild we would be teaming with healthy pro-biotics naturally. From soil, air, etc. But as we live in such artificially clean conditions, and have used anti-biotics, we need to boost these bugs.   So, at the moment, it works for me to give him small amounts. I believe strongly that it is helping him.  I would never recommend it though because I'm going by my personal knowledge, intuition, and observations. 

There's my 500 cents!

Summary

In very small amounts I believe organic low-fat plain kefir or yogurt can possibly be beneficial to my cat if used judiciously and monitoring to make sure there are no adverse effects. Any sign of adverse effect and I would completely back off.  I wouldn't recommend it to any one else because I don't know nearly enough about the big picture.
 
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claud

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Is it okay to put a link here?  This is an article about biomes that we need, how anti-biotics have affected them, and at the very end of the article, pro-biotics are discussed. It is science based article and pretty interesting. I think it would relate just as much to our pets. They are giving anti-biotics and would have similar impacts I believe.

It was on NPR. It was recommended by these professors on the course.


(umm, sorry, you got me all worked up about it. :/ )
 

helsic

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Not yogurt, but my cat sticks his head in and drinks my cereal milk/eats my ice cream with no ill effects. So lactose intolerance isn't always an issue. 
you're so lucky!!! I'm afraid to give him any dairy products because maybe he love it but he get sick so I'm afraid he would keep looking for it and maybe try to steal it from the kitchen counter.
 

claud

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;  g'night all!
 
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Willowy

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Most cats are lactose intolerant by design..
Properly cultured kefir and yogurt should have very little lactose. The cultures eat the lactose (milk sugar); that's what makes cultured milk products sour/tangy. And the beneficial bacteria should help to digest what little lactose is left over. So most people who are lactose intolerant can handle cultured milk products, I think the same should apply to cats. I haven't personally tried giving my cats yogurt but I think a size-appropriate serving shouldn't be harmful and could be beneficial.
 
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jennyr

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I have always given kittens and sick cats Greek-style plain yoghurt, as well as fromage frais, the French low fat, unsalted fresh curd cheese. I have always understood (told by a university vet the first time) that these are low lactose because of the processing. No-one has ever shown bad effects, and sometimes I believe it has saved a life. It calms the stomach and gives nourishment to a kitten that may be very hard to feed, as you can put it easily in the mouth or on the paws

Our shelter here includes yoghurt and fromage frais as a standard part of the diet for orphan kittens.
 
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lisahe

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I've heard varying advice about cats and yogurt over the years so it's interesting to read these comments. Years ago I had a kitten that we named Yogurt Face because she loved yogurt so much she stuck her face in it: the vet prescribed it after a course of antibiotics for an infection.
 

lokhismom

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I remember my vet suggesting giving my cat yogurt when I was having trouble giving him medication.    Crush the pill up and see if he'll lick the yogurt off my finger.  

Of course, this same vet also never raised any issues with me when I told him my cat only ate dry food.   I was that naive pet owner at the time. :( 
 

momto3cats

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My Niko used to love yogurt. Whenever she saw me eating it she would beg for some for herself. I certainly don't think it did her any harm, eating yogurt as a treat. She liked every flavor except the citrus ones.

My current two don't care for it much.
 

abbyntim

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My male cat Tim used to eat Fage plain yogurt - either full fat or 2%. He would BEG for it whenever I opened the container and I figured the probiotics would not hurt him. This is my cat that was so sick with digestive problems. Now that his digestive issues are sorted out, he no longer asks for yogurt. In fact, I've offered it to him and he has no interest. I think he must have known the yogurt would help his stomach. And now I know, if he asks for yogurt, something is going on.
 

furmonster mom

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Regarding lactose intolerance; I believe it is due to the lack of an enzyme called Lactase in commercially pasteurized milk.
 
LACTASE:

Lactase (a member of the beta-galactosidase group of enzymes) splits milk sugar (lactose) into the two simple sugars glucose and galactose. Found exclusively in mammalian milk, lactose is only one sixth as sweet as cane or beet sugar (sucrose).

Many people lose the ability to make lactase as they mature, so must either get it in their food or take supplements to avoid unpleasant side effects (lactose intolerance). Other folks, from regions in Europe, Africa, India and the Middle East, through a helpful genetic mutation, produce the enzyme in their intestinal tracts, even as adults. The lactase in raw milk, present from bacterial synthesis, appears to be inactivated by the pasteurization/homogenization processes.

RawMilkFacts.com
Barn cats have been drinking various raw milks (goat, sheep, cow) for centuries.  It used to be commonly accepted that it should be a staple (or at least a regular treat) in a domesticated cats diet.  However, I believe that several generations of not including it has resulted in animals (and humans) who do not produce enough lactase on their own.  So now we have a much larger population percentage that are "lactose intolerant".  Have we learned nothing from Pottenger's Cats?

Yogurt is a different thing, in that it might not have the same enzymes as raw milk, but certainly does have other digestively beneficial biotics.  I give my cats a little bit (plain, unflavored, unsweetened) as an occasional treat, a little bit goes a long way. 
 
 
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claud

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LisaHE    Haha! Yogurt face. :-)

Furmonster Mom  That is fascinating to me and answers questions I've had about why cats desire milk so much - apart from when they are kittens. Now that I think about it, it makes so much sense. It would be a symbiotic relationship. Because cats have antiseptic microbes on their tongues - meaning they would keep the teats clean and healthy.

(I've noticed my cats liking the goats milk especially. On that premise I'm going to look out for goats milk yogurt. I wonder if the milk on the animals teats would have gotten slightly sour like yogurt. Perhaps cats would have gotten probiotics in this way. Fascinating.)
 
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stephanie42

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yes.  jake really likes yogurt; i often let him lick a bit of yogurt off my spoon or save him a 1/2tsp at the end of my single serve container.  i don't eat the healthiest yogurt, but a bit of dannon light 'n' fit a couple of times a week hasn't seemed to hurt him.

and re: cow's milk, my old cat taylor drank pasteurized cow's milk regularly.  he had a different meow when he wanted milk and would always shove his head in my cereal bowl.  he probably had milk 3-5 times a month for his entire 16 years with no ill affects.  however, whenever samantha had some, she'd vomit (she'd shove her face in taylor's bowl and steal some).  and both piglet and jake like butter and ice cream made with cow's milk.  no issues yet.
 

lisahe

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LisaHE    Haha! Yogurt face. :-)
We called her brother Sticky Tail: he had a bad habit of loving to raid the trash bin and he got some sort of stubbornly unwashable goop on his tail one time!
 

kittykai

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My cats like to lick the Greek yogurt container after I am finished.    I have never given them any more than that, tho.  They love it!

KK
 

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A couple of mine will take a lick or two of yogurt if I am eating it.  And some cat foods actually have yogurt in it!  I bet some of you didn't realize that!? 
 
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