My husband has been 'in charge' of our cocker spaniel (6months) for the past few days and gave him some semi skimmed milk on Monday night (first time to have milk), there was nothing wrong with the milk, however since then he has been sick and had diarrhoea, although is stil eating and drinking well. Is this due to the milk? Is it advisable to give dogs milk? I have heard loads of different opinions.

Im no expert but apparently its common for some dogs to have a lactose intollerance and so cows milk will upset their stomachs. If you are going to give milk then I would advise Ewe's milk or Lactol which you can buy from Pets at Home.

As puppies, my dogs had a scrambled egg meal daily, in it was semi skimmed milk. They loved it - no upset tummys.

HTH

Norm

Once weaned I don't give puppies milk. Humans are the only mammals who regularly consume milk after weaning (think about this one :) )

Christine

Yep deep down we still need to have the baby comfort!

I won't be giving the little man cows milk again in a hurry thats for sure, as for my husband, well he has 1/2 pint every night with a small bar of chocolate, what does that mean!!!!!!

Thanx

I give my pups that I keep, milk up until they are 6 months old as a night time drink. I use Welpi, it's better than Lactol as it seems to agree with them better. I think that little bit of fat in a pups diet does no harm at all and I'm certainly pleased with the bone & body my pups have.

Mine had goats milk up to about 6 months :)

yes i was told to give mine goats milk. had no problems at all.

I think that if a dog has always been given it regularly,they tolerate it ok. If its suddenly introduced they may not be able to digest it properly and they reject it the only way they can.

Yes, I give goats milk too, dogs find it much easier to digest goats milk as it has smaller fat globules than cows milk. I definately would give full fat milk to pups not skimmed!!

I have always used cows milk with my puppies. In the old days that was the recomendation. My puppies have always done well on it.

Regards, John

What temperature is the milk you give? Room temp? Warm? Cold?

The milk was out of the fridge, so cold .He hasn't had any since, however if they are getting nutrients from milk, (goats, substitute, etc) i would like to start introducing him to it, i don't want him to be too 'delicate' with his foods.

I always use unpasturised goats milk for my pups (and adults as a treat). As said in a previous post dogs do not usually tolerate cows milk in any form and I never use powered milk. Although I know someone that uses Carnation milk which I think is awful - like syrup - mind you she does have problems with brown teeth when her dogs get older!

Hi
I after reading this posting about cows milk, I'm now wondering if this could be causing my Basset pup to have very soft poos.
I thought they were like this cos of the upheavel at coming to a new home, but am now wondering if it's cos of cow's milk.
I was advised by breeder to give him 2 milky dishes a day, and 2 meaty dishes. I warm his milk up when he has cereal. He loves his food.
So would you advise me to put him onto goat's milk instead?
Stephanie xx

Does anyone use soy milk? I once knew a breeder who mixed warm soy milk with Farex for puppy breakfasts.

Yes Sheph, dogs have problems digesting cows milk. I also wean puppies on to farex and they love rusks to (so do I).