Milk of human kindness?

I have just adopted a gorgeous two-year-old Labrador cross, who is settling in well. However, her previous owners used to give her milk to drink, and as such, she is reluctant to have much water. I have heard that milk can cause skin and digestive problems in dogs. Is this true? Should I be trying to wean her off the white stuff?
Rebecca Jacobs

Personally, I would wean her off milk for three reasons, each related to a different component of milk:
- some dogs with food hypersensitivity are reacting to protein in the milk;
- as puppies mature, they often lose the ability to break down the milk sugar lactose which results in diarrhoea. This can also occur temporarily in people following a bout of gastro-enteritis. Presumably, your dog is not having diarrhoea since you have not mentioned it so she can still digest the lactose. If, however, you think her faeces are looser than expected then this is one likely explanation, and easily remedied by avoiding milk and dairy products;
- being a Labrador-cross, I wonder what your dog’s waistline is like? Milk is essentially a baby’s food, and cow’s milk is very different from bitch’s milk! Being two years old, your dog is certainly no longer a puppy (although the Labrador in her means that she probably still plays as if she was still a puppy!)
Dogs are not social drinkers like us so they will drink sufficient water to match their needs, generally 40 – 50ml per kilogramme body weight over a 24 hour period. Drinking milk is taking empty energy onboard; if your dog is overweight, then being able to cut out the milk should give you a fairly simple way to restore her to a healthy body condition. I have had overweight patients who have been resistant to all my efforts to lose weight, until it has transpired that the cat is being elbowed away from his milk! (Mind you, milk poses similar problems in cats, and yet we all picture a cat lapping at a saucer of milk …)
If in any doubt, your usual veterinary practice may offer a weight or nurse-led clinic so that your dog can be weighed and her body condition scored.
Alison Logan, vet

I think Alison Logan says it all here. Cut out the milk; it’s unnecessary and the dog will start drinking water in a few days when she gets thirsty.
John Burns BVMS MRCVS, Burns Pet Nutrition