Can Cats Drink Almond Milk?

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Almond milk is a kind of plant milk made using almonds. It isn’t a new thing. There are numerous mentions of the stuff in medieval cookbooks. However, almond milk has been seeing a sustained surge in popularity in recent times for a number of reasons. For example, it is a plant-based product, thus making it suitable for consumption by both vegans and certain kinds of vegetarians. Similarly, it is lactose-free, thus making it suitable for consumption by those who can’t digest said substance as adults. Under these circumstances, it is natural for cat owners to wonder whether the cats can drink almond milk as well.

Can Cats Drink Almond Milk?

The general agreement seems to be that cats can drink almond milk. However, this is something that they should do in moderation. Most cats shouldn’t have a negative reaction to almonds, but it is important to remember that saying “most cats” isn’t the same as saying “every cat.”

Consult a Veterinarian

For starters, cat owners should always consult the veterinarian if they are unsure whether their cat can drink something or not. Most cats might be capable of drinking something. However, there is a real chance that their cat won’t be the same as most cats for whatever reason. Their veterinarian should have in-depth knowledge about their cat, thus enabling them to provide more insight into what should and shouldn’t be fine for their cat. Besides this, consulting the veterinarian is useful for another reason as well. Just because a cat can drink something, that doesn’t mean that said animal can drink indefinite amounts of the beverage. Rather than making their own guesses, cat owners should just consult their veterinarian to see what the professionals would recommend, which is particularly important because one cat can be so very different from another.

There Is a Chance of a Bad Reaction

There is always a chance of a bad reaction. Cats are like humans in that they can develop allergies at a later point in time. As a result, just because a cat hasn’t shown issues in the past, there is no guarantee that same cat won’t show issues in the present. The best approach when feeding almond milk to cat would be doing so in moderation. This way, the cat owner can keep a watchful eye on their feline companion for signs of gastrointestinal distress such as nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting. If those symptoms come up, they will know to avoid feeding their cat almond milk in the future.

Those Nutrients Can Be Found Elsewhere

Almond milk is nutritious. It has protein plus other important nutrients such as zinc, potassium, and vitamin E. Moreover, almond milk even contains omega-3 fatty acids. On top of that, it is common for almond milk to have both calcium and vitamin D added in, which are meant to make it more similar to cow’s milk in this regard. However, cat owners should remember that all of these nutrients can be found elsewhere. As a result, if their cat doesn’t react well to almond milk for whatever reason, they can just meet their cat’s nutritional needs through other foods and beverages.

Avoid Sweetened Almond Milk

Sometimes, almond milk has sugar added to it to make it sweeter. Cat owners should never feed said product to their cats. This is because high levels of sugar is bad for the latter, not least because it increases their chances of getting diabetes, heart disease, and other serious medical problems in the long run. For that matter, cats aren’t capable of tasting sweetness, meaning that sugar is wasted upon them anyways. They literally don’t have the taste buds for it, which is an interesting example of how their senses can differ from ours. Besides this, cat owners should also be very careful with almond milk that has had other ingredients added in. Almond milk itself might be fine for cats, but some of the stuff that gets added to almond milk is definitely not. If cat owners find the precautionary research to be a hassle, they should just stick to almond milk that has had nothing added to it if they are planning to feed it to their cat.

Can Cats Consume Milk?

Some people might wonder whether cats can drink milk or not. If so, they should know that pop culture can be pretty misleading on this matter. Essentially, cats can drink small amounts of milk. However, it isn’t a very good idea for them to do so. Like a lot of humans, cats lose the ability to digest milk when they grow up. Thanks to this, if they drink too much milk, they are going to experience gastrointestinal distress, which won’t be fun for either them or their cat owners. Furthermore, milk contains large amounts of fat. That might be appealing to cats, but that isn’t the healthiest thing for them, particularly if they are already getting enough from their normal diet. Large amounts of fat can cause gastrointestinal distress as well. Even worse, it is similar to large amounts of sugar in that it can lead to obesity, which in turn, means higher chances of a wide range of serious medical problems.

Can Cats Consume Almonds?

Similarly, some people might wonder whether cats can eat almonds or not. If so, it should come as no surprise to learn that almonds aren’t considered to be poisonous for cats, though eating them in excess is still a very bad idea. Almonds actually do contain a kind of poison. However, the almonds that tend to be sold in grocery stores are sweet almonds rather than bitter almonds, which is important because sweet almonds contain much smaller quantities of said substance than their bitter counterparts. Even so, it is a good idea to be safe than sorry by eating them in moderation. This is particularly true because eating large amounts of almonds can cause other issues because they contain a fair amount of fat. For that matter, there are some other potential issues as well. For example, some almonds are covered in either salt or other potentially hazardous toppings for cats, so avoid those. Similarly, cats don’t chew, so be very careful about feeding them things that are big enough and hard enough to present a choking hazard.