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!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.
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!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.