Homemade cat food
Goat Milk Kefir Probiotic Topper
Fermenting goat milk into kefir consumes most of the lactose that makes dairy such a bad idea for cats, and leaves behind a live culture that is genuinely useful after a course of antibiotics or a bout of loose stools.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time
- 5 min (plus 24 hr culturing)
- Makes
- About 20 servings
🧺 Ingredients
- 250ml whole goat milk
- 1 tsp live kefir grains (or 2 tbsp of an existing unsweetened live kefir as a starter)
- A clean glass jar and a square of muslin
👩🍳 Method
- Pour the goat milk into the jar, leaving a few centimetres at the top.
- Add the kefir grains and stir gently with a wooden or plastic spoon — metal blunts the culture over time.
- Cover with muslin and secure with a band. The culture needs air, so do not seal it.
- Leave at room temperature, out of direct sunlight, for 18 to 24 hours until slightly thickened and tangy.
- Strain out the grains through a plastic sieve and keep them for the next batch.
- Refrigerate the finished kefir. It thickens further as it chills.
- Serve a teaspoon over food, no more than once a day, and start with half that for a week.
Nutrition: Live kefir carries a broader range of bacterial and yeast strains than most yoghurts, and the fermentation also pre-digests the milk proteins into smaller, more easily absorbed fragments. It is a reasonable adjunct when the gut has taken a knock, though it is not a treatment for diarrhoea that has gone on more than a day.
📝 Notes
Keeps a week refrigerated. Goat milk is lower in lactose than cow milk to begin with and fermentation removes most of what remains, but cats are still not built for dairy and this is a topper measured in teaspoons rather than a saucer of milk. Stop if you see loose stools or wind. Never use sweetened or flavoured kefir, and never a product containing xylitol. If your cat is on antibiotics, ask your vet about timing — probiotics are usually given a couple of hours apart from the dose.
🎬 Related videos
⚕️ Before you cook for your cat
- Homemade food must be balanced. Cats need taurine, and deficiency causes heart and eye disease.
- Treat recipes are supplements to a complete diet, not a replacement for it.
- Check any new ingredient against the toxic-foods list, and ask your vet before switching diets.