Do you let your dog drink milk?

[JadeOrchidSong]

SiL in China gives her mini red poodle a cup of milk a day. She loves it.

My shih tzu loves milk too. Is it ok to let the dog drink milk? Do you let your dog drink milk? If you do, how much?

[fairfarmhand]

yup. When I am milking, I often have lots of extra so I feed it to the animals.

[JadeOrchidSong]

Thanks, Fairfarmhand!

Anyone else?

[Ellie]

No. It would never have occurred to me to give my dog cow's milk to drink. o_0

 

I also don't give it to my cats.

 

In fact, I never give my critters any kind of people food (although technically, cow's milk isn't people food, lol).

[saraha]

Yup, we milk too and all the animals cats. dogs, pigs get milk.  In fact, the girls like to give the dogs "cereal" in the morning, they pour dog chow into their bowls and add any milk I leave out for them.   The dogs eating cereal like kids tickles them :001_smile:

[JadeOrchidSong]

I do give my dog people food in addition to his Taste of the Wild. He loves my homemade Chinese dumplings, aka pot stickers. He gets some meat in the chili if we have chili. On camping trips, he gets beef barley soup with his kibble to keep up his energy for climbing the steep mountains.

Any more milk drinking and people food loving dogs out there?

[Dory]

Raw milk yes, pasteurized milk no. Dogs can have a lactose intolerance same as people. Or they can have an allergy to milk protein. If your dog isn't overweight (milk is the last thing a fat dog needs) and they don't seem to have any gas or diarrhea after drinking it, I wouldn't be worried about it. The poodle that I used to own couldn't handle any milk. Our pitbull and cockers love it and have gorgeous coats when they are on it (probably from the fat content).

[JadeOrchidSong]

My dog never has a problem. He gets the 2% blue milk as the kids do. I drink almond milk or eat plain yogurt. By the way, he loves yogurt and Canadian bacon. No he is not overweight.

[Pawz4me]

No cow's milk for the pets.  I very much believe in feeding pets a wide variety of healthy "people food."  I'm just not convinced milk falls into that category.  Although in thinking about it I suppose the calcium in milk might be helpful in balancing the phosphorus that's in abundant supply in much of the other foods people typically give to pets.  But I'd have to check the calcium/phosphorus ratio in milk to know for sure.

 

Signed,

The Pet Food Geek

[Lara in Colo]

I was always told that most mammals lose the enzyme to process milk once they are weaned and that giving milk to cats and dogs (especially if you haven't done it since birth) will cause them to have cramps and loose stool.

 

[zoobie]

No. I've never given milk to a dog. Never even thought about it. If I eat a bowl of cereal as a snack, I let my eldest kitties drink a few sips from the bottom, but that's an unusual treat these days.

[kewb]

I give my dog kefir when he is having tummy troubles.

[NotSoObvious]

Sometimes. Our vet said it was perfectly fine to mix it in with her food if it got her to eat more (she is a finicky eater). He also said cottage cheese and yogurt were fine.

 

But she's never had a reaction to any food and only gets loose stool from sea water.

 

We give her meat and fish as treats, but never anything that has been marinated or seasoned too heavily.

[kroe1]

No lactose intolerance in our pooch. She gets it mixed with her food.

[gingersmom]

I'm lactose intolerant, my kids are and by default so is the dog. 

[Free]

Yes, just a little each evening to wash down his dinner.

[dsmith]

I don't, but my in-laws do. They give him just about everything. I tell them just a tablespoon left in one bowl, but he gets two bowls of probably 1/2 cup each at times. He then comes downstairs to barf a few times a month, if they give it to him too cold. It used to be he would get a bowl, and our other dog would get a bowl, but since she has passed he gets both. Dh told me to no longer buy anything with grapes after fil gave him a piece of PBJ. Drives me nuts!!! The dog is moderately overweight, and it has been affecting his breathing. (He is a larger sized pug/beagle mix) We had him on a strict diet, but fil only follows it for about 3 weeks.  :glare:

[Karen in CO]

Only if the kids spilled it on the floor.  That is part of the dog's job description.

[Sisyphus]

Not purposefully, like out of the carton, but as leftovers in a bowl of cereal, yes.

 

True confession time: our dog eats all the leftovers. She's quite old now, but was middle aged when we moved overseas and our housekeeper was absolutely horrified we were scraping food into the food waste bin and rinsing plates in water when we had a perfectly good, very large dog to eat it. Despite being a breed known for weight problems, our lab isn't overweight, so I thought- what the heck, dogs happy, no wasting water or trash space (waste is highly regulated and very expensive trash bags must be used). We have done that ever since. She isn't as thrilled now that we are vegetarians, but she is quite old for a lab so perhaps all the table food isn't as bad as vets make it out to be. We don't give her anything cooked with onions (and that is many things) since they are toxic to dogs, but otherwise- she gets it all. We adjust her actual "dog food" accordingly, somedays she gets none at all!

[Dory]

Only if the kids spilled it on the floor.  That is part of the dog's job description.

 

One litter we had we named Hoover, Bissell, and Dyson for that very reason.