My Cats Love Cheese

[Rei's Mom]

so my babies love cheese. I know cats are lactose intolerant but they go nuts for it. Thy seem to like cream cheese the most (they will yell at me until I give them some of they'll snatch my bagel)
My question is since they love it how much is okay to give as a treat so they don't get sick?

 

[jcat]

Just a smidgen once in awhile shouldn't hurt them. It's more the extra calories than the lactose you have to worry about in cheese. The harder the cheese, the less whey (the liquid part of milk) and therefore lactose, which is water soluble.

Not all cats are lactose intolerant, either. Our Mowgli has lots of food allergies, but oddly enough no trouble with dairy products.

 

[sargon]

While cheese isn't good food for cats, like jcat said, many cats are just fine with a little as an occasional treat. As long as your ct doesn't have major issues with lactose, it is probably no worse than a lot of commercial pet treats.

Of course, the healthiest cat treat I know of are ice chips, which many cats love (mine included), and are 0 calories and help with hydration.

 

[Elfilou]

I agree with both of the above but do want to stress that cheese is a very calorie dense food. As a treat every once in a while though, not a problem I'd say.

 

[caitini]

Ice chips, what a great idea! I never thought of that!

 

[Rei's Mom]

I'll have to try ice chips for them one day. I'm sure Soul would love to bat them around lol. Rei would probably stare at them and walk away or start cleaning herself. I'm not sure why they like cheese so much but they're worse than my son was at 2 lol. Soul will meow at you until she gets what she wants and if you don't give it to her she tries to climb your leg. She's been like that since I brought her home so I'm assuming it's her personality. Rei will just sit in front of you with her head tilted ever so slightly and wait patiently for you to feed her something.

 

[lalagimp]

my bub was recovering from surgery and had been on the loveseat for a week. I sat down on the sofa with a bagel and cream cheese and he jumped from one to the other and got in my face and insisted he was going to snarf down a bite of my bagel with cream cheese.
I feel ya.

 

[Rei's Mom]

my bub was recovering from surgery and had been on the loveseat for a week. I sat down on the sofa with a bagel and cream cheese and he jumped from one to the other and got in my face and insisted he was going to snarf down a bite of my bagel with cream cheese.
I feel ya.

That's how they are. With other cheese they'll give up after a while but cream cheese they have to have no matter what lol

 

[MeganLLB]

Luna loves cottage cheese. I left my bowl sitting on the table once unattended. Came back and her whole head was in the bowl gobbling it all up. She devoured nearly half my bowl. I was so mad... that was the last of the cottage cheese

 

[thehistorian]

My little girl Twyla loves cheese, too...but she has sticky, slightly mushy stools as is. So, I have stopped giving her cheese even as a treat. She protests, but alas for her, it seems to help.

 

[sjoh197]

My one cat loves to lick cheese puffs. We try to not let her do that often.... But she gets aggressive about it lol.

 

[destinyz12]

Have you tried goat cheese with them? Goat cheese/milk is generally much more tolerated by cats compared to cows cheese/milk , but still should only be a treat of course.

 

[Rei's Mom]

Have you tried goat cheese with them? Goat cheese/milk is generally much more tolerated by cats compared to cows cheese/milk , but still should only be a treat of course.

I've never tried goat cheese or milk. As crazy as they go for what I do have at home I may try it