Can Dogs Eat Cheese? Which Kinds, and How Much

By Marc Brannigan, Co-Founder & CEO

Most dogs can have small amounts of plain, low-salt cheese. Blue cheese is the one to avoid outright, and a lot of dogs are lactose intolerant.

Why blue cheese is different

This is the part worth knowing before anything else. Blue cheeses — Stilton, Roquefort, Gorgonzola, Danish Blue — are made with Penicillium roqueforti, which can produce a substance called roquefortine C.

Dogs are unusually sensitive to it. At sufficient dose it causes vomiting, diarrhea, tremors, muscle twitching, high temperature and, in serious cases, seizures. Signs usually appear within a couple of hours.

This is not a moderation question like fat or salt. Keep blue cheese away from dogs entirely, including the rind and including a cheeseboard left out after a dinner party. If your dog has eaten blue cheese and is tremoring, twitching, unsteady or vomiting repeatedly, call your vet immediately — this is one to act on rather than watch.

Lactose intolerance is the common problem

Puppies produce lactase, the enzyme that digests milk sugar. Most dogs produce far less of it as adults, which is why so many dogs get wind, loose stools or a sore stomach from dairy. It is not an allergy and it is not dangerous — it is a dose-dependent digestive nuisance.

Two useful facts follow from that. First, harder and more aged cheeses contain less lactose, because the lactose is largely consumed during fermentation — which makes a small piece of aged cheddar or parmesan easier on a dog than soft cheese or milk. Second, every dog has a different threshold, so the only way to know yours is to start with a very small piece.

A dog with a genuine dairy protein allergy is a separate and less common thing, and shows up as itching, ear infections and skin problems rather than wind.

Which cheeses are safest

• Cottage cheese. The best choice. Low fat, low salt, low lactose and bland. Often what vets suggest when a dog needs a soft, high-protein topper.
• Mozzarella (plain, fresh). Low in fat and salt as cheeses go.
• Plain cheddar. Aged so lower in lactose, but higher in fat and salt. Small pieces.
• Swiss. Low lactose, moderate salt.
• Parmesan. Very low lactose but very high salt — a shaving, not a chunk.
• Cream cheese, plain. Fine in a scrape as a pill vehicle. High in fat.
• Goat cheese. Often tolerated better than cow's cheese, though it is high in fat.

What to avoid

• All blue cheese. Roquefortine C. Covered above.
• Anything with onion, garlic, chives or herbs. Flavored cream cheese, garlic-and-herb soft cheese and chive cheddar are common and the allium in them damages canine red blood cells. Our garlic guide explains why.
• Processed cheese slices and spreads. Very high sodium, emulsifying salts, little to recommend them.
• Nacho cheese, queso, cheese sauce. Salt, fat, often onion powder and sometimes chili.
• Macaroni cheese and pizza. Fat, salt and usually garlic.
• Anything high-fat in quantity. Brie, Camembert, mascarpone — not toxic, but a fast route to an upset stomach and a pancreatitis risk.
• Moldy cheese of any kind that is not meant to be moldy. Mold on ordinary cheese can produce tremorgenic mycotoxins.

How much cheese can a dog eat?

Dog size	Approximate weight	Plain cheese per day
Toy	Under 10 lbs	A pea-sized piece
Small	10 to 20 lbs	1 small cube
Medium	20 to 50 lbs	1 to 2 small cubes
Large	50 to 90 lbs	2 to 3 small cubes
Giant	Over 90 lbs	3 to 4 small cubes

A "small cube" is roughly half an inch. Cheddar runs about 110 calories an ounce, so this is a food where a generous hand matters: four cubes to a terrier is a meaningful share of their day.

How to serve cheese

• Buy plain and check the label for onion or garlic powder, which turns up in more cheese than you would expect.
• Cut it into small cubes — training-treat sized, not snack sized.
• Start with a pea-sized piece if your dog has never had dairy, and see what happens over the next day.
• Use it as a pill vehicle. This is cheese's best use: a scrape of cream cheese or a small cube wrapped round a tablet gets medication into a difficult dog with no fight.
• Use it as a high-value training reward, in small pieces, for recall and other things worth paying well for.
• Keep it off the counter. A whole block of cheese eaten off a countertop is a real fat load.

Which dogs should skip cheese

• Dogs with a history of pancreatitis. The fat makes this an easy no. Ask your vet about alternatives.
• Overweight dogs. Cheese is calorie-dense enough to undo a weight plan quietly. Use plain cooked chicken or green beans as training rewards instead.
• Dogs with heart or kidney disease. Sodium matters here.
• Dogs with a known dairy sensitivity.
• Dogs with sensitive stomachs. Cottage cheese in tiny amounts, or skip it.
• Puppies. Small amounts of cottage cheese are fine — they still make some lactase — but their calorie budget is tight.

A treat with less to weigh up

Cheese is useful precisely because dogs love it, and the trade-off is that every piece carries fat, salt and lactose. For pills and for high-value training, it earns its place. As an everyday handout, it is working against you.

Our organic hemp dog treats come in a small-dog and a large-dog size, baked in Colorado from organic ingredients with our own full-spectrum hemp extract and third-party tested. One biscuit is one serving, with no dairy in it at all. The serving guide has amounts by weight.

Frequently asked questions

The bottom line

Small amounts of plain cheese are safe for most dogs and genuinely useful — for pills and for training, nothing else works as well. Keep the pieces small because of the fat and salt, favor cottage cheese or an aged hard cheese because of the lactose, check labels for onion and garlic, and keep blue cheese away from your dog completely.