Can Cheese or Vanilla Ice Cream Harm Cats?

Nostalgic and traditional artwork depicting a cat or kitten sometimes shows the feline lapping sweet cream from a saucer. A more rural image shows the barnyard cat, waiting for a quick squirt of raw milk as the farmer milks the cow. While your first impulse when rescuing a stray cat is to offer a bowl of milk, you will not be doing the kitty any favors, as you should not give cats milk products such as cream, milk, cheese or ice cream.

  1. Milk Products

    • Young kittens, like other mammals, drink milk from their mother. Kittens and cats enjoy milk, but you should only give them milk formulated for cats, as opposed to regular milk you purchase at the grocery store. Cats produce only small amounts of the enzymes necessary to process the lactose in milk. Because of this, milk can give a cat diarrhea or cause it to throw up. Not only should cats not have milk, they should avoid milk products in general, according to the ASPCA. This includes ice cream and large amounts of cheese. Both products can interfere with the cat's digestive process and might make the cat become constipated or diarrhetic.

    Cheese

    • While milk products have the potential of upsetting your cat's digestion, cats do love cheese, and some cat owners safely give their pets limited amounts of natural cheese as treats. Many cat food companies make cheese treats for cats. Some people sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese atop canned cat food, to get picky felines to eat their food.

    Ice Cream

    • There is no reason to give your cat ice cream. Cats do not taste sweetness in the same way as humans, due to their genetic makeup, according to Elizabeth Martyn's "Everything Cats Expect You to Know." While they cannot truly enjoy the sweet ice cream, they will suffer from the negative effects of the sugar, which is a significant risk to many cats due to the threat of diabetes. An overweight cat risks getting diabetes, therefore you should avoid giving it foods containing sugar.

    Other Ingredients in Dairy Products

    • There is often other food added to milk and cheese, and if the milk does not make the cat sick, the ingredient might. For example, never give cats (or dogs) chocolate --this includes chocolate ice cream. The methylxanthines in chocolate stimulate the cat, and can cause vomiting, high heart rate, diarrhea, seizures, muscle tremors, seizures and possible death. Cats should not have coffee either, including coffee ice cream. Garlic and some other spices, often included in specialty cheeses, are also harmful to cats.