Domestic cat milk contains eight times more protein than human milk and three times as much fat. Did you know that? I think is an interesting bit of domestic cat trivia as I've called it. I also think it's pretty impressive.
Kittens grow rapidly (hardly surprising feeding on that kind of milk) as their mother uses her body reserves to produce milk. In one study it was found that mothers lost about 5.7 g per day when lactating. Kittens from larger litters are smaller and put on weight more slowly than kittens from smaller litters.
Female cat can give birth to between one and ten kittens. The average litter is about four or five kittens.
The largest litter ever recorded was 13 kittens. Each kitten weighs about 3% of their mother's body weight at birth or around 90 to 110 grams.
Source: Wild Cats of the World pages 108 and 109. Get this book.
Someday, perhaps, we will bottle cat (or any other mammal's) milk for the benefit of our own infants.
ReplyDeleteIt is certainly much better than human and perhaps cow's milk. I was just very impressed with this bit of cat trivia.
DeleteNot necessarily. The high protein is needed for the kittens rapid development and very short childhood. As the perfect food for a kitten is it's own well nourished mothers milk the same applies to a human infant.
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