Is half and half bad for cats?

[Chibi]

I've noticed that my cats like drinking half and half, in fact they beg for it now. I'm a little concerned whether this is good for their diet. Does it contain too much fat and cholesterol? I tried feeding them skim milk, but they don't seem to like it as much.

[rg_girlca]

Personally, I don't know what half and half is or means, but there is no need to give your cats any kind of milk on a daily basis. Once in a while is okay, but there main liquid should be water. Some cats can get diarrhea from too much milk.

[Chibi]

Thanks for the reply. Half and half (half milk, half cream), normally used in coffee drinks. What do they call it in Canada?

[moosmom]

Half and Half is half cream and half milk and yes it's bad for cats. Cats are lactose intolerant and when fed significant amount of dairy products, will cause diarrhea.

Whenever I have cereal, my cats sit around and wait to lick the bowl.

[rg_girlca]

Oh, okay. Well, I don't drink coffee at all, so have never seen this product, but now you've got me curious, so I will have to check this out the next time I go grocery shopping.

[shepgirl]

Not a cat person and I remember putting saucers of milk out for stray cats when I was a kid but I've also been hearing that cats shouldn't be given any milk...really surprised me. I've asked a couple of cat owners and they said only dogs tolerate milk. Wonder how the saucer of milk for the stray cat started?

[Medusa]

When I was rescuing, I gave the rescues heavy cream that I warmed in the microwave to put fat on their bones while they lived outdoors. My vet said that it was ok because not all cats are lactose intolerant and they didn't drink all that much. It was shared by quite a few cats. My cats sure aren't lactose intolerant. They can't wait for me to put the bowl down on the floor to lap up the skim milk when I'm finished eating my cereal. Every cat is different, I guess, just like people. I wouldn't give them a lot of it, though, just to be safe.

[Chibi]

Thank you all for the replies. I don't think my cats are lactose intolerant, at least I have not seen any symptoms. My main concern was the fat content in half and half since I couldn't get them to go for skim milk. I figured half and half was a better alternative to cream.

[catmandu]

I BELIEVE ITS HALF AND HALF IN CATADA AS WELL.
AND I REMEMBER MY DEAR MOTHER GIVING OUR CATS MILK, FRESH FROM THE COW, AS WE USED TO GET OUR MILK RIGHT FROM MY GRNDFATHER WHO HAD ABOUT A DOZEN HOLSTEINS.
AND WE ALL LOVED THAT , AS THE TASTE IS FAR RICHER THAN MILK THAT YOU BUY IN THE STORES.
AND THOSE CATS THRIVED ON IT!
MAYBE ITS THE CHEMICALS THAT THEY PUT IN THE MILK, NOT THE MILK ITSELF.
WE LOVE CREAM YOU KNOW.

[carole]

Alot of cats are indeed lactose intolerant, but you may have the exception there, i never give my cats milk, if i do i buy one especially for cats, which does not have lactose in it, it is for pets only by vitapet or whiskas, they love it for a treat, well at least two of them do.,has added vitamins and minerals in it too.

[Catlady711]

I think that cats are lactose intolerant, however some cats can tolerate a greater amount of things than others.

Using dogs as an example with pancreatitis...

One dog may eat greasy hamburgers, pizza, gravy and such on a somewhat regular basis and not get sick while others may get deathly ill from just one treat of the same foods.

I think with both it's the system of the individual animal that makes the difference.

As a general rule I wouldn't give any dairy products to cats, particularly high fat ones, but I suppose a tiny amount on a rare occasion as a treat shouldn't cause a huge problem I wouldn't think.

[mruffruff]

Half & half would be pretty rich for a cat. As much as they would love it, it could cause problems. The biggest would be a craving for more!

Some of my cats run to the kitchen at bedtime, yowling for milk. I give them about a tablespoon each of 1 percent milk. So far, no problems.

[Kirsten]

Oh, I'm sure the kitties love that drink - mine would love it, too - but you should really consider to make them get used to water. Like others have said, cats are usually lactose-intolerant, and the lactose of cow milk may cause diarrhea, or at least a sore tummy.

This is from an article I wrote some years ago for my cat website:

... "But many cats don't tolerate cow milk very well, they're getting diarrhea from drinking it. This is because cow milk contains more lactose (milk sugar) than the cat mother's milk. The organism of an adult cat is lacking the enzyme lactase which breaks down the milk sugar - and this leads to cow milk intolerance. The cat mother's milk, on the other hand, contains more fat and different proteins, so the composition of both cow milk and cat milk cannot be compared." ...

The entire article is here: Milk & Cats

I think when your cats are able to tolerate this drink, you may still want to offer it to them as a treat, but their daily drink should be water.

Kirsten