We assume cold dark matter to possess a small bulk-viscous pressure which typically attenuates the growth of inhomogeneities. Explicit calculations, based on Eckarts theory of dissipative processes, reveal that for viscous cold dark matter the usual
Newtonian approximation for perturbation scales smaller than the Hubble scale is no longer valid. We advocate the use of a neo-Newtonian approach which consistently incorporates pressure effects into the fluid dynamics and correctly reproduces the general relativistic dynamics. This result is of interest for numerical simulations of nonlinear structure formation involving nonstandard dark-matter fluids. We obtain upper limits on the magnitude of the viscous pressure by requiring that relevant perturbation amplitudes should grow sufficiently to enter the nonlinear stage.
