Can Dogs Eat Cheese?

1 Harms and Benefits

There are over 4,000 known cheeses. The harms are real: overfeeding causes obesity, but more importantly cheese delivers high sodium and lactose.

We like salt, and cheese-making uses salt; the sodium in cheese can cause high blood pressure and organ damage, so experts do not recommend feeding cheese long-term.

The benefits: cheese is a good protein source; supplies essential vitamins and minerals; is rich in calcium; contains vitamin A; B vitamins; and healthy fatty acids.

2 Cheeses and Dogs to Avoid

What cheeses to avoid? Blue cheese, feta, and other French cheeses—don’t use their high fat to fatten a dog, and blue cheese produces a toxin fatal to dogs (difficulty breathing, racing heart, then seizures; needs prompt stomach pumping). It has the highest sodium of all cheeses.

Cheese made with garlic or other seasonings—many types, such as Havarti and even cream cheese, contain herbs or garlic to boost flavor, and we know those harm dogs.

Brie and feta, though tasty to us, are the highest in saturated fat; dogs that eat them can develop pancreatitis, a frightening disease.

Which dogs should avoid cheese: overweight dogs (high fat is poison to them); lactose-intolerant dogs (diarrhea—stop the cheese); picky eaters (cheese won’t magically fix appetite, and underlying reasons exist); dogs with digestive disease (cheese is a burden, not a treat, because it digests slowly).

3 How to Choose

Given all the warnings, should you still feed cheese? Of course—but choosing well takes skill.

Low-fat cheese: common human low-fat cheeses satisfy a dog’s craving. Cottage cheese is the best choice if available, with the lowest fat and sodium of all cheeses.

Most low-fat cheeses in the supermarket are fine for dogs, but always check the ingredient list and avoid the ‘avoid’ categories above.