Updated: August 11, 2022 by Kristen Chapple
Cats are known for their love of milk. And we are known for our love of cats and the care we give to them, including feeding them some tasty milk when they cry for it. Lately, the milk we drink has been replaced with alternatives. One such alternative is almond milk. But is it ok to give some to our furry little friends? Can cats drink almond milk?
Besides the milk, nowadays there are all sorts of products which use almond milk instead of normal one, and we might give it to cats without even knowing it. That’s why it’s important to know if it’s safe for cats to drink almond milk.
Cats and Lactose
While in general people associate cats with normal cow milk, that’s not entirely true, as most mature cats are lactose intolerant, so their digestive systems can’t break down and synthesize the lactose found in that milk or any other diary products. In fact, only kittens have the enzymes necessary to break down the lactose in milk. Mature cats lose those enzymes, so they’re no longer prepared for that process, thus the problems that arise when they drink milk.
The thing is that most cats love the taste of milk, but ingested in high quantities it might give them stomach troubles, so giving them almond milk sounds like a better alternative. Only that it’s not. Almond milk is also dangerous for cats.
Can Cats Drink Almond Milk
In small amounts, almond milk might not be troublesome for your cat, but the moment she gets a taste for it, oh well, things might change. And not for the better.
Almond milk and almonds in general might have some beneficial properties for us humans – and we might think the same about our feline friends – but we couldn’t be farther from the truth. Cats are carnivore creatures while we are omnivores. We all need protein, and almond milk certainly has enough of them, but the type of protein we need differs a lot from the type of protein our cats need.
Being carnivores, cats require a lot of animal protein and their bodies are built to synthesize that type of protein. In the case of almond milk, the proteins contained in it are plant based, which cats cannot synthesize. Apart from that, some almonds can contain substances such as cyanogenic glycosides that are toxic to a cat’s organism and can cause cyanide poisoning if large enough amounts are ingested by them.
Therefore, the safe answer to our question if cats can drink almond milk is a good – and highly recommended – no.
