What Age Can Kittens Drink Milk

Kittens should be drinking water by the time they are 4 to 6 weeks of age.

What age can kittens drink milk. Regardless of how tasty milk may be to your cat this is bad news for their. The kittens mother provides the best milk for their needs at that age. Milk contains calories water doesn t it should be an occasional treat only. Kittens will drink their mother s milk for the first few weeks of life or a specially designed kitten formula milk if necessary.

From there you can decide whether it is necessary to eliminate lactose from your cat s diet. 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. In such cases we can say that cats can drink cow s milk without problems however quantity must always be controlled. The aspca states that this milk provides all of a kitten s required nourishment.

The milk that the kittens take both by natural breastfeeding and artificial feeding is rich in fatty acids colostrum antibodies and. According to purina senior nutritionist jan dempsey cats generally lose their ability to digest the sugar found in milk after weaning because solid food takes its place and they no longer need this ability. No other sustenance not even water is yet required. Up until kitties reach approximately 1 month in age anything other than their mother s milk is totally unnecessary.

This varies however and some cats can digest milk sugar into adulthood. If we have adopted a kitten of lactation age or their mother rejects them we must bottle feed them every two hours with special cat milk. However you may feed orphan kittens goat s milk available at many large grocery stores or supermarkets. Cow s milk can upset a kitten s stomach and should be used as a last resort.

The age old myth that milk and cats go hand in hand has officially been debunked by veterinarians and cat experts. In order to do find out how your cat reacts to lactose in milk give your cat a little milk to try and supervise if there are any reactions. This is why it is important to. You can also feed them kitten milk replacement formula.

These milk substitutes may be safer for people who are sensitive to lactose but that does not make them any easier for. 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. This applies only to mom s milk though as cow s milk can often lead to tummy distress and diarrhea troubles in kittens so be careful and. Milk from their mother or kitten milk supplement is vital to young kittens but once a kitten has weaned he doesn t need to drink milk.

A cat s fluid intake should be predominantly from their food and water. However they will be fully weaned by around 8 9 weeks of age.