this post was submitted on 04 Nov 2025
553 points (98.8% liked)

cats

25237 readers
1099 users here now

Typical internet cats. Videos, pics, memes, and discussion welcome!

Rule 1) Be kind

Rule 2) Follow the lemmy.world rules

other cat communities

midwest.social cats

cats with jobs

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
all 18 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] TheLunatickle@lemmy.zip 59 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Poor cat. Although considering all cats are lactose intolerant it's probably for the best.

[–] lath@piefed.social -2 points 1 day ago (3 children)

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

[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 14 points 21 hours 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.

[–] baguettefish@discuss.tchncs.de 52 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

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 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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.

[–] SmackemWittadic@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (2 children)

You can develop a tolerance to lactose by eating specific foods?? Neat!

[–] ArsonButCute@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Over time as the lactose becomes a more reliable resource in the gut, bacteria which can process it will begin to grow and with sufficient resources can compete well enough to stabilize in the gut biome. HG Modernism on Youtube has a video on it if you're interested.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h90rEkbx95w

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 4 points 20 hours ago

(Results may vary)

[–] Senseless@feddit.org 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

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.zip 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

that aren't lactose intolerant became lactose tolerant

they... stayed the same?

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

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

[–] ngdev@lemmy.zip 1 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

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

[–] lost@lemmy.wtf -3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Cat's milk doesn't have lactose.

[–] baguettefish@discuss.tchncs.de 18 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day 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.

[–] purpleghoul94@piefed.world 4 points 1 day ago