Can A Baby Kitten Drink Regular Milk

Milk is a food not a beverage female mammals produce milk to feed their own offspring.

Can a baby kitten drink regular milk. Kittens lack the proper enzymes to digest the lactose in cow milk and feeding cow milk to kittens can cause diarrhea and dehydration very quickly in very small kittens. Now if the kitten has already been weaned. Should you find yourself raising orphaned newborn kittens during the critical first two months of life there are specially formulated kitten milk substitutes. However remember this is only complementary to its diet and cannot be considered a main ingredient.

Instead buy some kmr or kitten milk replacement formula. Since cats don t have the enzyme necessary for digesting lactose drinking milk can lead to gastrointestinal issues such as an upset stomach diarrhea vomiting loss of appetite and weight. You can find this in most pet stores it may go by another name in other countries but the concept is the same it s a replacement for the mother s milk. This can cause the kittens to lose fluid so the milk will do more harm than good.

Their systems may not be able to digest it properly resulting in diarrhea. Kittens should be drinking water by the time they are 4 to 6 weeks of age. If the kitten does not present any health or digestive problems you can offer this kitten some milk in moderation. Read the label to make sure the kitten milk replacer contains colostrum although most brands do.

Newborn kittens especially need colostrum that first mother s milk providing antibodies for baby s protection. No regular milk is liable to give newborn kittens diarrhea. You can offer it small amounts of milk to see if its body digests it correctly. Only mix up as much kitten milk replacer as you can use in 24 hours or so then discard unused portions.

This is why it is important to avoid feeding cow milk to kittens. Cow s milk can upset a kitten s stomach and should be used as a last resort. The only milk that is healthy for kittens to drink is either their mother s or they will need a kitten milk replacer which can also be called kmr or kitten milk formula.