When your dog drinks milk, it is often accompanied by a lot of enthusiasm. Not only do puppies fight over their mother’s nipple, adult dogs also love a bowl of milk.
But can an adult dog drink milk?
Is this dangerous?
Milk for puppies
If you let a dog drink milk, he often thinks this is a very good plan. Jummy! But his body can think very differently about this. Complaints such as diarrhea and vomiting are not uncommon, after licking a bowl of milk.
How about this?
At the beginning of his life, your four-legged friend is completely dependent on his mother’s milk. This is packed with important nutrients that support vital processes in the body. Think of growth, but also of the natural defense against bacteria and viruses.
The milk is therefore specially made for the puppy and perfectly adapted to his needs.
If there is no mother or breast milk, then it is important that a substitute is found. A puppy cannot eat chunks or meat yet. He has no teeth at all!
In addition, his digestive system is not yet ready to tolerate solid food. Fortunately, there are all kinds of products on the market with which the puppy can get good bottle food.
So you will think that milk is healthy for everyone, for a dog’s life. But the reality is different.
Giving dairy products to a dog
After weaning, the dog is no longer dependent on his mother’s milk yield. He can eat solid food and derives the nutrients he needs to keep his body functioning properly.
This also applies to people when we switch from breast or bottle feeding to other products. Fruits, vegetables, but also carbohydrates have a strong place in the human diet.
But in many households, milk is also reintroduced in the toddler. Not in the form of human milk, but often milk from the cow. In addition, we take a lot of dairy products, such as yogurt, cottage cheese and cheese.
However, this does not make perfect sense. Isn’t our body finished with milk? And isn’t cow milk produced specifically for a calf?
That’s why we see more and more sensitivities or even allergies to milk. In Asia, this is even quite normal!
After his milking period, our dog normally switches to fresh meat. In our modern society they often get chunks, which are tailored to the needs of your four-legged friend. But from their owners, they often also get something in their menu.
Still, you have to be extremely careful when feeding products for people to animals. A dog may have the same organs, but its digestive system is very different from ours. To begin with, we are omnivores (omnivores) and your dog is a carnivore.
Vomiting after drinking milk, is milk harmful?
Have an adult dog drink milk and there is a high chance that he will vomit or get diarrhea. How is this possible? He also drank milk as a puppy, right?
In his young life, a puppy produces a lot of lactase, just like human babies do. This enzyme breaks down the substance lactose (milk sugar), so that the milk can be properly digested.
But after weaning, the dog no longer needs this enzyme (much). This will greatly reduce the production of this substance.
If the dog gets to drink milk after this, he may experience problems with its digestion. It is not the case that the milk will leave the body undigested and without problems. The substance can also irritate the body.
Should your dog drink milk after a visit to a vet?
If your dog drinks a lot of milk, he may experience stomach and intestinal problems. If this is a one-off, there is usually not much going on. This also applies to other dairy products such as yogurt, cottage cheese, buttermilk, etc.
But does your dog regularly consume dairy? Then his gastrointestinal system can irritate and become inflamed. Look out for the following symptoms:
Consult one or more of these symptoms with the vet
Some dogs have even developed an allergy to milk products. In addition to stomach or intestinal problems, they can also get a rash and a foul breath.
Does your dog have diarrhea or stomach complaints after eating a little bit of dairy? Then give him easily digestible food such as boiled white rice with boiled chicken or boiled white fish. Even small bits of white bread with meat juice (salt-free!) Can calm things down.
In addition, make sure that your dog drinks enough. Provide lukewarm, clean drinking water and possibly make it more attractive by mixing in some (salt and herbless) meat juice.
