Can Labrador dogs eat cheese
Can Labradors Eat Cheese?
Short Answer: Yes! Long Answer: Maybe
The short answer to yourquestion is Yes! Labradors can eat cheese because they can eat just abouteverything.
The real point is whether theyshould eat cheese.
The catch with the answer yes,is that you should avoid feeding your Labrador large quantities of cheese orother dairy products since larger quantities can seriously mess up their gutsystem.
The safest way to feedlabradors cheese would be low-lactose (or even lactose-free) cheese.
This would remove any guessworkof safety, but even then there should be safety precautions taken as a lot ofit depends on your labrador specifically (Dont Worry, well give signs lateron in this article if whether or not Cheese would be dangerous for yourLabrador Specifically!)
Can Labradors Eat Cheese? Cheese and dairy products as a whole are difficult for dogs to digest as opposed to humans. And thats because Labradors do not possess large amounts of lactase to comfortably digest cheese.
So if Cheese is consumed inbulk by your dog, this can lead to symptoms like vomiting, diarrhea, gas, etc.They do possess some which allow them to eat cheese but not in excessquantities.
A good rule would be to feedcheese to your labrador as only a treat with a specific quantity (just dont goover that quantity and you should be fine!)
However, keep in mind that notall Cheese is created equally as treats for your furry friend. Some cheesesshould be avoided completely while other types of Cheese can make up for greattreats.
Well cover the ones that needto be COMPLETELY avoided and also whether or not cheese or dairy products as awhole should be avoided for your labrador specifically.
There are also certainingredients that are within certain cheeses to add flavor that are good for usbut should be avoided at all costs for your labrador.
Realize that Cheese is notnecessarily an essential part of your labradors diet, but there are certainuses that can make it a good idea to gradually add it to your Labs diet.
Benefits of Eating Cheese For Your Labrador
Cheese should not be a largepart of your Labradors diet. Realize that Dogs and Labradors specifically lovecheese, and you should take advantage of that in certain scenarios.
There should only be someinstances or uses where Cheese should be fed:
The first way would be through a bait. If for example, you need to feed your dog medicine, you can trickle it down a cube of cheese so your dog can benefit from the medicine without having to fight him to do so.
The second would be a treat. If your teaching you labrador a trick or a skill, you can give it a cube of cheese every time it performs well.
This will make it easier for you to teach your dog skills and tricks while giving your labrador a worthwhile goal to work towards. (This use may be especially effective towards older dogs and get them to learn new tricks!)
As for training treatsspecifically, cubes of cheese would be most ideal. Keep in mind however thenumber of cubes youre feeding your labrador in a day.
Having a set quantity and notgoing over that will be key to feed your labrador cheese safely. With thesespecific uses, you need to remember to take the instances of a worst-casescenario.
You need to keep in mind thatat the end of the day, labradors and all dogs, in general, have a sensitivestomach and leaning more towards the safety side whether it be for treats orfeeding medicine would be ideal to ensure safety.
And if youre just starting tointroduce these uses of cheese into your Dogs diet, you need to do so slowly.With every new addition to your dogs diet (specifically with dairy), you needto introduce it slowly and gradually.
Maybe start with one cube ofcheese on the first day.
Depends on the Type of Cheese
As explained earlier not allcheeses are created equally. So to answer the question Can Labradors eatcheese? becomes a more dependent answer on the type of cheese that youreplanning to feed your labrador.
Certain types of cheeses shouldbe completely avoided, largely due to the fact that the lactose content is toohigh on those for your dog to comfortably digest without any harmful symptoms.
Overall, despite certain types of cheeses not being suited for every labrador. Cheeses do provide nutritional benefits to your labrador to worth noting.
They act as protein, fattyacids, vitamin A, Vitamin B and a bunch of other rich nutritional contents thatcan benefit your labradors growth.
Besides certain cheeses havingtoo high of a lactose content making it harder to digest. Some types of cheesesmay have too much sodium which can also be dangerous to feed to your dogs.
Because if you notice on a lotof dog food, the sodium content is relatively low. This is why Cheeses withlarger quantities of sodium should be avoided for your labrador at all costs.
You also have to look atwhether or not your labrador specifically is lactose intolerant. Because if itis lactose intolerant then only the types of cheeses and dairy products thatare lactose-free should be consumed to prevent allergic reactions.
When you are looking forcheeses to feed or treat your furry friend then you need to look for cheesesthat A) Low in sodium content and B) Lower Lactose. Types of Cheeses that meetthese two criteria would be:
- Cheddar
- Mozzarella
- String Cheese (Be careful though, it can act as a choking hazard so only feed in cubes)
- Swiss
- Cottage (Avoid Cottage cheese that can be cut by milk since it can significantly increase lactose content)
Cheese Types to Completely Avoid For Labradors
There are some cheeses thathave no exceptions at all and should be avoided at all costs due to either highsodium or high lactose content or even a combination of both.
Below we have listed the typesof Cheeses that your Labrador should always avoid along with certain ingredientsthat go into add flavor but are very detrimental for your labradors health.
1. Avoid Goat Cheese
Goat Cheese specifically ishigher in Lactose Content which can have negative effects on your Labrador.Compared to cow milk, goat milk is a lot more expensive and difficult to find.
So this is also better forpractical and economical reasons as well. Along with that Goat Cheese also hassignificantly higher contents of saturated fat which makes it very unhealthyfor your dog to consume which can lead to a stream of health problems laterdown the line like pancreatitis.
2. Avoid Parmesan Cheese
Now Parmesan Cheese is low inlactose content, it has high amounts of sodium. The thing with sodium is thatdogs cant digest sodium as well as humans do.
Too much sodium will todizziness, vomiting, and dehydration. This is why cheeses with high sodiumcontent should be completely avoided at all costs. So definitely avoid parmesancheese as a treat for your labrador.
3. Avoid Cream Cheese
This is the last type of cheesethat is a complete no-no for your labrador. Cream Cheese along with parmesanand goat cheese should be avoided as well.
The very high amount of lactosecontent within the cream is what could make this type of cheese deadly for yourdog and lead to a lot of health problems for it.
Alongside that, Cream Cheesehas very high amounts of fat which are unhealthy specifically for Labradorssince they have the tendency to easily put on weight compared to other dogs intheir later ages.
And not to mention, feedingyour labrador cream cheese will be a mess in it of itself, so lets not gothere!
4. Avoid Feta Cheese
Feta cheese especially containsa very high amount of saturated fat that can be very detrimental for your dog.Even though it may taste very good for us, dogs will have a very difficult timedigesting this type of cheese.
Avoiding Feta Cheese will beessential for your dog to live and long and healthy life. High-fat foods as awhole should always be kept away from dogs to avoid future health problems.
5. Avoid Blue Cheese
Now Blue Cheese is another oneof those types of cheeses that are a must to avoid. Blue Cheese specificallycan go ripe very very quickly and produce dangerous toxins for your dog toconsume in doing so.
Blue Cheese like feta cheese isalso especially high in fat.
Most of these cheeses are foundin pizza, so just avoid giving cheese from pizzas as well because those cheeseson pizza tend to have a higher amount of sodium that will not be good for yourlabrador.
6. Avoid These With Your Cheese
Along with completely avoidingthe types of cheeses mentioned above, also avoid Herbs, Tomatoes, and Garlicwith your Cheese because these can make your dogs very sick.
In all instances, these threeingredients are served very commonly with cheese and should be avoided at allcosts whether its with cheese or without.
In fact, some types of cheeseswill have ingredients like garlic or onion within the cheese so you wont beable to tell at all by just looking at it.
So its absolutely crucial tolook at the ingredients of each cheese label to make sure they dont includeany external flavorings like garlic and onion specifically (theyre verydangerous for dogs)
Wont They Get An Allergic Reaction to Cheese?
You may have thought thatwouldnt labradors have an allergic reaction to cheese? Now labradorsspecifically are prone to more allergic reactions to food.
However, dairy products are nottoxic to labs and wont cause an allergic reaction. Despite that, you stillneed to be aware of potential side effects or allergic reactions your labradorcan have with cheese or dairy products as a whole.
The truth is, Cheese isnt anessential part of your labs diet.
And thats because if yourefeeding it good food, then, either way, it will have had all of its nutritionalneeds for the day including calcium and vitamin D which are the main importantcontents with dairy products.
Now you may be wondering whatis cheese good for then in a dogs diet? Take it upon humans ourselves. Why dowe reach for that bar of chocolate or soda? To treat ourselves.
So for dogs, cheese would be agreat source of a treat after an accomplishment as mentioned earlier.
The main allergic reaction thatcan be common to your lab if it eats cheese is if its lactose intolerant.Lactose intolerance affects dogs as much as humans as well.
And if your labrador is, thenyou need to be even more careful with the type of cheese that you find.
The types of cheese you wouldneed to look for if this is the case would be lactose-free cheese (and ofcourse, low sodium as well).
However, even if your dog isnot lactose intolerant, then it still may be allergic to the proteins found incows milk.
The thing withlactose-intolerance is that there is no medicine that can treat it solactose-free dairy products are going to be essential.
Without lactase, your dog willsimply not be able to digest cheese and that can lead to a lot of problems asmentioned earlier.
This is why its very importantto get your dog tested for any signs of lactose intolerance or similar issuesthat can prevent it from consuming cheese or dairy products and also keep inconnection with a vet that can help when minutes matter.
Signs For Your Labrador To Not Eat Cheese
Often times, its going to bevery obvious to tell whether or not your lab is lactose intolerant or not. Youreally just have to be observant and judge its reactions. If your labrador islactose intolerant you will be able to tell relatively quickly.
It wouldnt take that long for you to tell if your labrador is lactose intolerant. If it is, your dog will give you clear signs that its lactose is intolerant. These signs include:
- Gas This is the MOST common sign or symptom
- Bloating
- Dehydration
- Dizziness
- Diarrhea
- Vomiting
- Abdominal Pains
- Loose Stool
However, do note that it ispossible for your labrador to develop these issues later on in its life.
Especially when Labs age theycommonly not only gain a lot of weight exponentially but also commonly developother health-related issues and problems. So be on the lookout for that as yourlab ages.
Just because its not lactoseintolerant at a young age, doesnt mean it wont be as it ages to an older dog.
Point being, you should alwaysbe aware of your dogs health and signs it may be giving you regarding itswell-being.
Yes Labradors Can Eat Cheese (But Theres An Exception)
Cheese can act as a great treatfor your lab. And we all love cheese at the end of the day. However, you mustbe careful which cheeses should be avoided completely and which ones can serveas an occasional treat for your labrador.
Along with that, understand theallergic reactions that your dog may give off if its allergic to cheese/dairyproducts or lactose intolerant.
If these reactions are commonthrough multiple types of cheese that it would be a good idea to eliminatecheese from your labs diet altogether.
A great general rule of thumbwould be testing one cheese cube at a time (avoiding the main dangerous ones,however).
Always look at the nutritionalingredients that the Cheese label comes with to avoid any feeding your dog anyingredients that can be harmful to it altogether.
And remember to slowlyintroduce cheese to your labradors diet. You dont want to rush it in if yourdog has never had cheese or other dairy products before.
Main Exceptions For Your Labrador To Not Eat Cheese
The Main exceptions you need tolook out for to avoid cheese and other dairy products altogether are:
Numberone if your lab is lactose intolerant
Ifyour labrador is showing allergic reactions through multiple types of Cheese
Ifyour labrador is allergic to the proteins within Cows Milk
Disclaimer
You should realize that I am not a vet and that any serious concerns should be considered with your Vet.
Having a good relationship witha vet thats familiar with your labrador specifically would be key to make surethat if there is an Emergency your vet can easily treat your dog byunderstanding its situation.
Every decision and adviceshould be considered to your lab specifically. Because just like all humans aredifferent all labradors are different as well. You should be cautious of thereactions your labrador gives specifically.
Conclusion
Be Cautious
If youre considering adding Cheese to yourLabradors diet then you should do so cautiously. There can be many differenttypes of reactions that can occur for multiple different types of food.
Cheese is not excluded from them. Though Cheese isnot an essential part of a dogs diet (or any dairy product for that matter) itcan act as a great use for medical purposes, as a treat based system for yourlab to be more motivated to learn new tricks and skills or even if its out ofthe kindness of your own heart.
You need to realize that every single Labrador canhave different reactions or allergies. You need to watch out for your Labradorto not be lactose intolerant.
And the way you can figure that out is by closelyobserving its reactions with each and every type of cheese. Cheese and dairyproducts should be avoided altogether if your dog is lactose intolerant or lookfor lactose-free cheese/dairy products if that is the case for your lab.
Avoid Certain Cheese Types
Make sure to avoid the maincheeses mentioned that are all commonly high in fat, sodium or lactose content.Those cheeses should never be fed to your dog at all costs.
And other Cheeses that shouldnot be fed would be ones with a higher than normal lactose content, sodium orfat.
You need to realize thatLabradors specifically out of all dogs are the easiest to put on weight andgain fat (especially when they age) so you need to be especially careful withthe fat content your cheese has included.
Along with that, keep an eyeout for certain ingredients in Cheeses that can deter it to be unhealthy andbad for your doggo.
Have a Vet
Also remember to consult yourvet specifically for if your Labrador can eat cheese or not.
This will give you a just incase of emergency to fall back upon if your dog shows any adverse reactionswhen they eat cheese or any other dairy products.
Introduce It Gradually
Whatever the case youvedecided to feed your dog cheese, always remember to feed your labrador cheesegradually. When any new food is being introduced to its diet, it should be doneslowly.
Also, remember to not feed yourlabrador with too much quantity of cheese because that will be too difficultfor it to digest and can cause a whole list of problems.
A couple of pieces, not everyday (like 3 days per week, but max 4 times per week) should do the trick withkeeping the quantity at bay.
Labradors are a very unique dogbreed so to answer the question if they can eat cheese did get a littlecomplicated.
Thats because adding anythinginto their diet should be done with precautions and knowledge about what theycope with best and what is detrimental to their health.
And if worst comes to worst,and your dog is not showing the best reactions with the Cheese you feed it,then it should be avoided altogether.
Because as good as cheese is, its really not worth the pain and discomfort it could cause your dog if thats the case with your specific Labrador.
References
- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1748-5827.2002.tb00058.x
- https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=jGvsDQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT27&dq=Labradors+Dogs+Cheese&ots=5jyJJd_nje&sig=8ydWlB9Ncd05ozLyvEKaEhRGntA
