Can Dogs Eat Cheese? – Can cheese make my dog sick?

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Is cheese safe for dogs?

The answer is YES and NO

Adult dogs generally are lactose intolerant. Dairy is a common allergen, and even if your dog isn’t allergic to it, many have intolerance to dairy. If your dog doesn’t show any symptoms, then go ahead. There’s nothing poisonous or dangerous (as opposed to something like raisins or chocolate) about cheese. If you are sure that your dog is not lactose intolerant, I would still be careful about how much cheese you feed your dog. Remember the golden rule I keep talking about? Yes, you guessed it; it applies here too. Too much cheese can result in your dog having terrible diarrhea, which you probably don’t want. The occasional piece of cheese should be fine though.

Black pug with cheese

Like most foods you may drop on the ground, cheese will certainly be one your dog will gladly gobble up, so when eating cheese around your gluttonous friend, make sure you put the cheese in you mouth and not on the ground. Since cheese should only be eaten in moderation, be responsible and don’t leave a giant piece of cheddar laying around for old munchy-mouth to devour.

With what other foods can dogs eat cheese?

Like out friends Mr Pug and Mr Other Pug, most dogs really like dairy products such as plain vanilla ice cream, plain yogurt, cheese, etc. As long as you give them sparingly, they can make a good occasional treat. Small bits of string cheese work great for training if you have a dairy-loving dog. Some dairy products can also be beneficial to dogs, such as plain yogurt, which can be added to their food and helps with digestion. The key is to know what works for your dog (some dogs easily get diarrhea from dairy products) and use them sparingly, you should be okay. Now that I have told you this, I don’t think you will be feeding your dog tons of cheese unless you want to spend all your free time cleaning up the cheese once it comes out of them in big amounts!

It is always good when given in small amounts maybe once or twice a week. It is a great way to change up the packaged dry biscuit treats that dogs are used to having. You can use them as training treats, but just make sure that a slice or cube of cheese is broken down into many pieces so that they don’t get diarrhea from overeating cheese.

Another alternative way of feeding cheese to your dog would be to use them as pill pockets. They usually love cheese so much that they would love to gobble it up and would not notice the smelly pill that is inside the cheese. But I would not use cheese to hide medications if it was for treating a urinary tract infection (some dogs get UTIs from crystals in the urine, and extra calcium could case that) or for diarrhea (cheese could aggravate it).

Cheese as Dog Treats

Now that we have figured out that you can feed dog cheese in small bits, lets talk about more ways to utilize the cheese as a treat. We already talked about training and pill purposed but I think cheese can even be that gourmet treat they get once in a while. For example, we discussed already that dogs can eat apples, why not give the dog some cheese with a little bit of apple (without the core!). Just like a pill, you could even dip a little treat in a bit of cheese to make it extra special for the extra special pooch!

Also, if you are going to treat you dog with cheese make sure it is low fat. You dog will be less likely to have stomach problem with low fat cheese since it contains less milk, thus less dairy.

Overall, we say you can feed your dog cheese as long as it is in tiny bite-sized amounts. Make sure to keep an eye out for your dog having allergies to dairy products and always keep in mind that dogs are usually lactose intolerant and might poop their brains out if fed too much cheese!

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  1. None of us are bothered by dairy products, but its true some dogs are. Mom gives us yogurt in our food and cheese in our treats. Moderation is key, so tiny bits of cheese a dollop of yogurt!

    urban hounds

  2. My dogs think cheese makes them feel better when they are sick because they only get cheese when they have to take medicine. I have to hide it inside a piece of cheese just so they don’t know they are taking medicine. LOL

  3. Fred and Gloria get a tbsp. of yogurt in their morning food and cheese only if a) I need to give them a pill or b) Fred has stolen something and won’t let go!


  5. The part that says to (quote) feed you dog lowfat cheese as it contains milk, thus less dairy (unquote) makes no sense. All cheese are dairy products. One cheese is not less dairy or milk free than the next unless it’s synthetic cheese or soy cheese and didn’t come from cows milk in the first place. Cows milk products are dairy products. The one thing different about low fat cheese is that it has less fat, so may be easier on your dogs stomach; but less dairy is not a correct statement or use of the word dairy. I’m sure this was a mistake. Btw I have a masters in food science so trust me on this .

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