Goats Milk

How come hedgehogs can have goats milk when it contains Lactose?
There is a milk out there called Lacto-free milk which my OH drinks as he is Lactose intollerent. Was just curious as to how come Goats milks okay but not cows milk? Thanks.

I was wondering this! Goats milk is still quite high in Lactose with 4.1g per 100g (cows is 4.6g) But I have no answer sorry! xx

Some lactose intolerant people can have goats milk with no problems. I guess the theory for hedgehogs is the same.

Found this site below. There are others if you search for goats milk and lactose intolerance.
http://www.everything-goat-milk.com/lactose-intolerance.html

xkatymayx wrote:Some lactose intolerant people can have goats milk with no problems. I guess the theory for hedgehogs is the same.

Found this site below. There are others if you search for goats milk and lactose intolerance.
http://www.everything-goat-milk.com/lactose-intolerance.html

Hmm interesting, so is it worth trying Lactose free milk too but in small doses to see how it goes down?

My OH's lactose intollerant (sp) and cant have goats milk.

Lactose intolerance means that the body cant crease the enzyme lactase which breaks down the lactose and the symptoms come from the lactose sugar irritating the gut.
Some can be lactose intolerant but still have milk, ie. goats milk as they do produce the enzyme just not enough for large amounts of lactose. The lactose free milk you have mentioned has lactose in but also has the enzyme lactase in it so there is no need to break down the lactose, however it would not be suitable if they have an allergy to milk.
Also note in replace ment to milk some people use soya milk but some can be intolerant to this also.
Hope this helps the understanding behind it.

Lactofree products are free in Lactose, there is no enzyme added.
Lactose, the sugar found in milk, is normally broken down by the body into two simpler sugars that can be easily digested. These two sugars, galactose and glucose are in lactofree products instead of Lactose. Lactose in there has been already broken down so no need to do it in a body.
there are drops in US than can turn normal cows milk in lactose free (adding few drops in normal milk, waiting 24h and its lactose free)
or you can buy the enzyme to eat in holland and barett, swallow 3 tablets before lactose meal - like a restaurant or made by friends- and you wont have any digestive problems.

my hubby tried and its working

Goat's milk is NOT ok.

It can be used in an emergency to feed hoglets but it is a bad thing to use long term. Studies have shown the differences between hoglets raised on goats milk compared with hoglets raised on special tried and tested formulas, goats milk hoglets don't do so well.

Firstly i'm going to apologise if this comes across as narky...it is in no way meant to be
Regarding the feeding of hoglets, i think you have to be very careful about what you write, as some people will read this as gospel and it isn't always the case.
Yes, there have been other replacement milks found to be better than goats milk when rearing NATIVE hedgehogs but this does not mean that goats milk is absolutely not suitable for rearing them...........i used goats milk for years and have reared numerous hoglets from all ages successfully with no problems when using it (now some of you have seen the size of my wildies, so it can't be denied that its adequate). Many hedgehog rescues still use it with successful results.

Also you have to bare in mind that aph hoglets are not the same as wildie hoglets in terms of development etc, goats milk again has been used numerous times successfully to hand rear them and given the fact that other replacement milks that we now use for wildies has not been tested (and i'm not suggesting that it should be!) it cannot be said for sure whether anything else would beat goats milk.

The only time i would say that it could be stated that certain substitutes definately cannot be used is when it is seen 100% not to be suitable for them... say for instance Lactol, it is in no way suitable for hoglets as it doesn't contain the nutrients that they need and many many rescues have seen the sad effect that attempting to rear hoglets on this particular one has had on them.