Cat and cow's milk (whole milk) — A feral cat knows what's good for it, right?

Question

Related: Should I feed my cat milk?

I've read that some adult cats can handle cow's milk (whole milk), and other cats can't (diarrhea).

My question is this: A cat knows what's good for it, right?

If milk caused problems or discomfort for a cat in the past, the cat would know it and would NOT keep drinking milk, right?

-- especially an outdoor cat, or a half-feral cat, right?

My favorite half-feral cat seems very careful about trying new food. It tries a nibble, goes away, and comes back a few hours later -- presumably after it has determined that the new food item is ok.

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Can I ask a related question?

I've seen on TV shows : hardcore "survival skills" guys saying what they do to see if a wild fruit is safe to eat -- they first rub it against the skin (wait a few hours), eat a tiny portion (wait several hours), eat a nibble (wait several hours), then it's safe to eat. -- or something like that.

-- Do feral cats do this ?

Answer 1

No they do not know, they can't correlate something like that as the side-effects happen later and not immediately.

Your kitty may not like the food very much or isn't very hungry, that is why it only eats a small amount and then comes back later.

We get cats come in often enough with string-gut (they eat dental floss or yarn and it gets caught in their intestines), they don't know.

Answer 2

No, the cat doesn't know what's good for it. I would recommend just sticking to no milk, it's likely bad for it since it's bad for most cats. I just wouldn't take a chance. Plus, cat diarrhea? Nasty. Gross. Blegh. If you really wanna give it milk maybe a very small amount in a small bowl to test it out and see the results but, again, cat doesn't know what's good for it.