Goats Milk

[ladyvesuvius]

Hi all.

How good or bad for our cats and kitten is goats milk? The reason I ask is that my cat Peanut and kitten Pepper will not drink water. I have tried different bowls, fountains and putting the water in different places around the house etc I read goats milk was good for kittens as it was as close to their mothers milk you could get but now thats all they drink and I dont want to take away the only thing they drink. Is giving them this milk a bad idea? They are on a wet food diet only, no dried food.

 

[carebearbaby1]

When my youngest was a tiny kitten I fed him formula with a goat's milk base. He did great on it, if I ever need to bottle feed another one I will use it again. As for older cats it would probably provide too much extra fat in their diets. Cats bodies are designed to get most of their needed moisture from their food. Since your cats are on a wet food only diet they probably don't need to drink as much water as you'd think. I leave water out for them and just give the goat's milk as an occasional treat, as long as it doesn't give them diarrhea.

 

[ladyvesuvius]

Thanks for your reply. I did wonder if the wet food would be enough but I hate the fact they drink no water, especially when summer comes. They do drink the milk quite a bit, but maybe that is for enjoyment rather then being thirsty. Dont want my kitties to be fat lol Thanks again!

 

[StefanZ]

I agree with Carebearbaby.  Wet food contains almost enough with water. 

Goat milk is excellent in many ways. So its always OK to give.

But make sure they DO have water accessible if they wants or needs it...

Not exactly where the food it, another station.

That said, there are tricks to make them drink more water water.  Say, have some cream in the water. Or some tuna juice (water from tuna can) added with the water...  Observe, such a water must be changed more often than the pure water.

Good luck!

 

[raintyger]

When my kitty was on dry and wet mixed she drank from the bowl. When I moved her to 100% wet with extra water mixed in she quit drinking from the bowl completely. I added about 2 teaspoons of water/meal, 2x daily. I live in hot, dry, sunny Southern California.

Test their hydration by pulling on their neck scruff and seeing how fast the skin goes back down. Since they're on wet I'll bet they're hydrated. If that's the case I agree with everyone else about the goat's milk. Good as a supplemental treat, but they probably don't need anything extra for hydration.