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Anonymous
>>45461
That's an old saw that's got a little bit of basis in truth.
Not having mother's milk means that the kitten doesn't get all the antibodies it would otherwise receive through the milk. It's more likely to get infections and parasites that it can't destroy without outside medication, but not from the milk itself. It's the lack of the mother's milk that does it.
Why kittens shouldn't drink cows' milk:
Unlike humans, Cats are almost 100% carnivorous. They get the vast majority of their energy from fat. Humans and other omnivores get energy from fat, starch, and sugar.
(Incidentally, What few proteins that they need from vegetables, cats get from eating herbivorous or omnivorous prey. Big cats eat the stomachs of their prey animals. Small cats, including house cats, typically eat their prey entirely, including bones.)
Kittens need fats in vast quantities. However, the fat molecules in Cow's milk are too large to be absorbed into a kitten's bloodstream. Older cats can absorb a little more of the fat out of cow's milk, but not much. All a cat really gets out of cow's milk is the taste.
All you'll really do to a kitten by giving it cow's milk is give it diarreah.
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