Cat Eating Ice Cream Brain Freeze
When domestic cats eat ice cream their brains freeze. That’s what they say. It is because the cat appears to be temporarily frozen. Firstly, I wouldn’t say that their brain “freezes” and secondly cats may respond differently. I would say that cats react to an unexpected experience. Domestic cats like ice cream because of the fat in the milk. I believe that what causes the strange reaction is the very cold temperature of the ice cream which is unforeseen by the cat and which is totally out of the ordinary for a domestic cat.
The ingredients of ice cream would not cause this sort of reaction (unless there is some unusual ingredient which I have overlooked). The ingredients are: milk, sugar, milk or vegetable fat, flavour (and sometimes colour).
The reaction of a domestic cat when he eats ice cream is amusing to people, which is partly why cat owners feed their cat ice cream. The cat seems to throw his head back and make an unusual sound or if no sound is made the cat keeps his mouth open for a while. The cat stays still. There is a small delayed reaction. Overall the impression is that the cat is surprised and going through an uncomfortable experience. The cat suddenly realises how cold the ice cream is and reacts.
What do you think is the reason why cats react like this to eating ice cream? By the way, most of us realise that it is not a good idea to give a cat ice cream because most cats are lactose intolerant in the milk used in ice cream contains lactose (cow’s milk).
Cats Protection do not support giving cats ice cream. They say that a third of cats cannot tolerate cow’s milk and in any case it is high in calories and not the sort of food a domestic cat should be eating which is a high protein diet, low carb diet.