Can dogs eat cheese?

Why

The first issue is lactose, the sugar in milk. Puppies make plenty of the enzyme that breaks it down, but most dogs make far less of it once they are weaned. Any lactose that isn't digested carries on into the large intestine, where gut bacteria ferment it — which is what produces the wind, the gurgling and the sloppy stools owners notice the evening after a cheese-heavy day. How much a dog can handle varies enormously from one dog to the next, and hard, well-matured cheeses generally contain less lactose than soft, fresh ones like cream cheese or ricotta.

The second issue is fat, and it's the more serious one. Cheese is very calorie-dense for its size, so it quietly undoes a lot of careful feeding. More importantly, a sudden large load of fat can trigger pancreatitis — inflammation of the pancreas — which is painful, makes dogs very unwell, and occasionally becomes an emergency. Some dogs are considerably more vulnerable: those who have had pancreatitis before, overweight dogs, older dogs, and breeds known to be prone to it such as miniature schnauzers. If that describes your dog, cheese is not worth the risk at all.

Third, cheese is salty. For a healthy dog an occasional nibble isn't a problem, but salty treats add up across the day, and dogs with heart or kidney disease are usually on a carefully managed sodium intake that a few cubes of cheddar can undermine. Ask your vet before giving cheese to any dog on a prescription diet.

Often what matters most isn't the cheese but what's in it. Blue cheeses — stilton, roquefort, gorgonzola and the like — are the standout danger: the mould used to make them can produce a substance that causes muscle tremors, twitching and seizures in dogs, and it can come on quickly. Cheese flavoured with garlic, onion or chives contains alliums, which damage dogs' red blood cells. Cheeses studded with raisins or other dried fruit carry the grape and raisin risk to the kidneys. Any of these turn a mild tummy-ache situation into a ring-the-vet situation.

How much is sensible?

If you're going to give cheese, keep it small, plain and occasional. Choose a hard, low-salt cheese with nothing added, and think in pinches rather than slices: a couple of pea-sized pieces is plenty for a Labrador, and a single crumb is the right scale for a terrier or a small dog. Whatever you give has to fit inside the general guideline that treats stay under about 10% of a dog's daily calories — cheese eats up that allowance fast, so take a little off dinner on cheese days. If your dog has never had it, start with a crumb and see how the next day goes before offering more; a dog who gets loose stools from a nibble is telling you something useful. And it stays a sometimes thing, not a daily ritual. Dogs with a history of pancreatitis, dogs on a low-fat or low-salt prescription diet, and dogs who are already sensitive to dairy should skip it altogether.

Signs to watch for

• A gurgling, rumbling tummy and noticeably more wind than usual, often within a few hours
• Loose, sloppy or urgent stools, sometimes lasting a day or so
• Being sick once or twice, or bringing up frothy liquid
• Drinking more than normal after a salty helping
• Going quiet, going off food, or seeming generally flat and uncomfortable
• Repeated vomiting with a hunched back or a stretched-out 'praying' position and a tense, painful belly — a possible sign of pancreatitis, and a reason to ring your vet now

If your dog has had too much

If your dog has had a small piece of plain cheese and seems themselves, there's nothing to do beyond keeping an eye on them for a day, leaving fresh water down and keeping meals plain and normal-sized. If they've raided a whole block, or the cheese was blue, or it contained garlic, onion, chives or raisins, ring your vet straight away rather than waiting to see if symptoms appear — tell them the type of cheese, roughly how much, and when it happened, and keep the wrapper if you have it. Don't try to make your dog sick unless your vet specifically tells you to. Get in touch the same day if there's repeated vomiting, a hunched or painful belly, tremors or twitching, blood in the stool, real lethargy, or if a tummy upset drags on past a day or two. Puppies, small dogs, seniors and dogs with existing health problems dehydrate quickly, so lower your threshold for calling with them — your vet knows your dog and would far rather hear from you early.

Serving tips

• Grate it rather than cube it. Cheese is intensely smelly to a dog, so a pinch of gratings feels like a real reward and uses a fraction of the fat and salt of a chunk.
• For pilling, use the smallest possible wrap of plain cheese and check with your vet first — some medicines are poorly absorbed when given with dairy because they bind to calcium, and your vet may suggest a different hiding place.
• Read the label before sharing anything from a cheeseboard or a flavoured pack: garlic, onion, chives and dried fruit are the things that turn cheese from a minor indulgence into a vet call.
• Dog-proof the cheese, not just the dog. Cheeseboards left out after guests, a ploughman's lunch on a low table, and cheese wrappers in an open kitchen bin account for a lot of the raids we hear about — blue cheese especially should never be within reach.

Common questions