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

mani · Nov 18, 2014

P3 and The King said:
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!?

There is a company that makes cat food here called 'Yoghurt Plus', so the name is a bit of a giveaway..

@Anne, here's a link.

dan wolters · May 25, 2016

Ok here is my 2 cents. I found this thread because I was searching for a reason my cat Zim has these stomach flu spells. And I'm pretty sure I have found the cause.

My answer the the original question is, in some case YES various dairy products can be directly harmful to a cat.

In my case the culprit is Kefir.

Kefir is Zim's #1 vice. He loves it and comes running and meowing up a storm every time I have it, particularly Strawberry. Naturally I took out a small dish and give him couple of tablespoons. Then I started noticing that he threw up a lot. As soon as he had any kind of chow, dry or wet, he would get these spells of absolutely foul smelling projective vomit. I mean, I know vomit smell bad but this was something out of the ordinary. This happened, off and on for several weeks and I really started getting worried as I could see the cat was starting to lose weight as he was never fully able to keep nutrients. I tried changing his food brands, and for a while I thought I had found the culprit. And like an idiot I thought giving him more Kefir would help him and give him some "good" bacteria.

Turns out I was the one who continuously poisoned the little guy, like an idiot.

I got it fully confirmed now that I haven't had any Kefir in the house for several months. Zim has been fine, ....until I brought some home. As soon as he heard the sound of me shaking the bottle, Zim comes rushing into the kitchen. Now suspicious that Kefir could be the reason for his vomit spells, I only gave him a tiny drop. And, wouldn't you know it, he's now been vomiting constantly for two days. His body is purging the bad bacteria that's been once again introduced to his system.

I don't know about Yoghurt, but Kefir can be POISON to your cat, and totally put their bowel biology out of whack.

Zim is never getting Kefir again.

jennyr · May 27, 2016

I regularly give my cats yoghurt, but the natural, unsweetened variety, usually a bio brand and Greek style. I have never had a problem. I suspect that Kim's problems come from other things ion the Kefir, like flavourings and sugars.

joshua golden · Sep 2, 2016

so can most all cats eat kefir? can older kittens?

manx · Sep 2, 2016

All mammals, save certain populations of humans, cannot process lactose past infancy. Therefore one shouldn't include it into their diet as it can cause digestive upset.

Some people do give raw and pasteurized goat's milk as it is a "universal milk" that is easy on the tummy. This is a good way to hydrate a cat and give them probiotics without hurting them like cow's milk.

hbunny · Sep 2, 2016

I actually give both milk and yogurt to Shortstack because he has episodes of severe constipation. It does the trick. He has never puked or had diarrhea from it, I guess it is just enough to make him poo.

I give plain yogurt when I have to give antibiotics, it definitely makes a difference with the antibiotic-producing diarrhea, at least with my cats. Without it the antibiotics always without fail gives them diarrhea. But I don't think I would just give it freely all the time without reason.

manx · Sep 2, 2016

All mammals, save certain populations of humans, cannot process lactose past infancy. Therefore one shouldn't include it into their diet as it can cause digestive upset.

Some people do give raw and pasteurized goat's milk as it is a "universal milk" that is easy on the tummy. This is a good way to hydrate a cat and give them probiotics without hurt

jennyr · Sep 2, 2016

Some milks, including goat milk and buffalo milk, are naturally low in lactose. Most processing of milk removes lactose, so cats can eat yoghurt and cheeses if they have no flavours or salt added.

profdanglais · Sep 2, 2016

My kittens both love yogurt. I give them Fage Total full fat, no more than a teaspoon at a time. It's good for hiding medicine and also helps my boy who has a sensitive tummy.

hbunny · Sep 2, 2016

JennyR said:
Some milks, including goat milk and buffalo milk, are naturally low in lactose. Most processing of milk removes lactose, so cats can eat yoghurt and cheeses if they have no flavours or salt added.

That's one reason my vet wanted me to give Shortstack the goat milk...he isn't a water drinker, and it helps him get more liquids. He loves it! I however can't stand it. Too strong for me, bleh!

Willowy · Sep 2, 2016

Goat's milk actually has MORE lactose than cow's milk :dk:. But it has smaller proteins that are apparently easier to digest.

But, yeah, any fermented milk product will be very low in lactose because fermentation cultures eat the lactose.

hbunny · Sep 2, 2016

Maybe I need to try to make myself like it! I usually never touch milk, but every so often I crave a bowl of cereal. I don't care for the soy or almond milks. But the goat milk is just so, I don't know, funky haha That's the only way I can describe how it is to me!

mingsmongols · Sep 2, 2016

Yogurts good at countacting antibiotics in case of an overdose. I accidentally switched the adult cats antibiotics with the kittens and gave it to the kitten. I called my vet and the pet poison center and was advised to give him as much yogurt as he would eat and then watch for symptoms of an overdose. It was a tough night, but the yogurt did its job.

yogakitty · Jan 6, 2017

I was reading on EZ Complete's website that Kefir is very beneficial to cats and should be fed to them...case by case basis I suspect....but due to the high bacterial culture, it is beneficial to their digestive tract. Is this not correct? I gave my little guy a tablespoon of yogurt yesterday. He loved it. Gobbled it up. No issues as of yet. I haven't tried Kefir personally but would like to.

pegleg · Jan 6, 2017

Like others in this thread I let one of my fosters lick the pot of my daily Greek yoghurt. She absolutely loves it and I haven't noticed any changes in her poo.

charlottehiggins · Jun 6, 2017

claud said:
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.

Hi Claud, would you mind sharing what kind or kefir and yogurt you used for you cat? I have a cat who has gut issues that the vet prescribed steroids for and that has seemed to only make him worse. I insisted he come off the steroids and now have a conventional vet who is holistically minded. She says she has heard of people giving their cats kefir, and that I could try giving him little to start with and see how he is with it. Are you still using the same kind of kefir, or kefir at all, or have you tried another kind that seems to work better? I would love to get your perspective on things!

_spadekitty · Jun 6, 2017

I work at a clinic and the vet who owns it feeds his cat yogurt and grape nuts every day for breakfast, so I suppose so.

sargon · Jun 6, 2017

I don't really actively feed her dairy products, but Freya loves cheese, and steals a bit of my yogurt from time to time. She seems to like it and doesn't seem bothered by it.

valentine319 · Jun 8, 2017

My cat only gets fage plain (whole or 2 percent preferred) and I tend to double strain it. You toss 2 coffee filters into a strainer and put yogurt in it. Sit that in a bowl for a day or two. It pulls extra whey out of it. Dump back in the container. I have baby spoons so she gets a spoon to lick off. My cat has a sensitive stomach and hasn't had any issue with fage.

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

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