• lath@piefed.socialEnglish
    68·
    4 months ago

    They’re lactose intolerant to their own mother’s milk?

    • baguettefish@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      52·
      4 months ago

      kittens start out lactose tolerant, just like humans, but then often develop lactose intolerance as they age and don’t need to drink their mother’s milk anymore. some cats are more tolerant than others, and for the intolerant ones you can give them lactose free milk (or “cat milk” which is lactose free cow milk with nutrients for cats)

      if your cat likes regular cow milk but not lactose free milk though you should probably not give it regular milk anyway. lactose intolerance is a menace and even just the tiniest bit of unprocessed lactose can absolutely annihilate your gut, and cats don’t often decide what’s best for them in the long term.

      • Senseless@feddit.org
        16·
        4 months ago

        And then there are people like me, that ate yoghurt and curd for half a year on a nearly daily basis until I developed a tolerance. What a shitty time.

            • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
              7·
              4 months ago

              That’s kinda how the very small percentage of humans that aren’t lactose intolerant became lactose tolerant. The only way you can be lactose tolerant, as over 80% of humans are lactose intolerant, is to be descended from mid-northern European ancestry. Basically the proto Germanic and proto Southern Nordic tribes force fed themselves so much cheese and milk that they became lactose tolerant.

              • ngdev@lemmy.zipEnglish
                6·
                4 months ago

                that aren’t lactose intolerant became lactose tolerant

                they… stayed the same?

                • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
                  21·
                  4 months ago

                  Intolerant ≠ tolerant. They weren’t lactose tolerant originally. We can actually prove that with their remains and DNA.

                  • ngdev@lemmy.zipEnglish
                    1·
                    4 months ago

                    i think its just bad wording or something bc i had to read that a dozen times to figure out what you meant

    • AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world
      15·
      4 months ago

      All mammals lose the tolerance to lactose as they age. Except for a handful of mutants.

      Maybe you’re descended from one of them. Note that cheese was a way to store milk with very little lactose so it was edible by all.

    • lost@lemmy.wtf
      48·
      4 months ago

      Cat’s milk doesn’t have lactose.

      • baguettefish@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        18·
        4 months ago

        afaik the milk produced by cats does actually have lactose. it’s just the store bought “cat milk” that’s lactose free so adult cats can also drink it.