My human’s best friend has a cat called Dinky. When she comes over, they sit down and talk about Dinky and me over several cups of tea. Mostly it is about what fascinating animals we are, but the other day when they were chatting, it was a rather serious conversation about Dinky being ill.

I lay down near my human, pretending to be asleep but listened to the whole story about how Dinky became sick.

Apparently, one fine day Dinky started throwing up her food and would not even drink water. She would stand over her dish and drool. When they took her to the vet, he told her that vomiting in cats is just one common sign of the cat feeling sick.

But it can be related to many different problems including food changes or having eaten something that was not meant to be eaten such as indigestible objects, plants and spoiled food or more serious issues.

Poor Dinky had eaten some spoilt food or had milk which was causing all the sickness. Then my human and her friend started discussing if milk was good for cats or not. A lot of people think that us cats and milk go together, but milk is a common culprit for feline stomach upset and similar issues.

Well, the fact is that we may love lapping up a saucer of milk, sometimes we cannot digest cow’s milk well and can have diarrhoea and/or vomiting from drinking it.

Kittens need the nutrients in a mother cat’s milk, but adult cats don’t need milk. Personally speaking, I like a saucer of milk every now and then as a special treat… and there is nothing yummier than a saucer of cream, although I know that it would make me fat and heavy and then I won’t be able to jump and run as gracefully as I do.

I enjoy milk and other dairy products like cheese and yoghurt, and they don’t give me any problems either. However, some cats do get sick and there is nothing in milk that we need as grown up cats. Good quality cat food which has vitamins and nutrients is what we really need.

Another bad thing that I sometimes do is beg for table scraps. As my human begins to dig into her food, I give her my cutest look. You know the one — where I stare at her like a child, purring and rubbing against her leg. While it’s true that some cats, specially strays, seem to have “iron stomachs” and can eat things that I wouldn’t dare to, it is best to eat only food that is designed for our needs as cats. Homemade food like boiled boneless bits of beef or chicken and some clear soup occasionally makes a healthy diet for us.

Surely food that comes off the table, or goes into the trash can’t be any good for cats, would it? And sometimes my human gets tempted to share the goodies on her plate but that food is too fattening, sweet or saltish for me, which could lead to serious problems.

As I lay there, I made a mental note to remember that chicken bones are highly dangerous, as they can damage teeth or stomach lining and chocolate is toxic to animals.

Suddenly I decided to jump on my human’s lap, startled her but purred away as I remembered how she throws away leftover food that has been lying around in my dish especially in the hot weather, as it can give me food poisoning… love the way she looks after me.

Meow! I hope Dinky gets better too, she is a pretty little Persian and I love to hear stories about her mischief so I can try them out on my human as well.