Giving cheese to a small dog

Question
Hi Charlotte

I have a small dog he is a x breed terrior. He really loves cheese but I have heard that cheese is bad for a dog as they can't digest it properly. Is this true and is there any other food not recommended for dogs. (I know about chocolate)

By the way he gets dog food daily not scraps.

Regards
Jean Coleman

Answer
Gee here we go again. People with good intentions, but little information, telling us how to raise our babies.LOl
I give my dogs cheese, my cat too.
Too much cheese can constipate them, just like it does some adults. I only have to watch how much I give to 1 of my dogs, the other 3 can eat all they want (more than I will give them) and have no bad reactions to it. The English Setter loves cheese, but since she is almost 12 years old, it has started constipating her some, unless I have a peach, or one of the other fruits good for loosening bowels. She loves fruit, and most vegetables.
NEVER feed animals table scraps, NEVER feed them chocolate, lots of stuff like that.
My dogs are members of the family, and they live in the house. They smell all the good stuff cooking, and they cannot HAVE any?
I don't think so.
They get a plate at holidays, they get a litle taste of special things.
I NEVER give them pork. No matter how long it has been frozen or how well it is cooked, if a certain enzyme is present, it can kill a dog. won't hurt humans and most animals, but it gives dogs a fatal disease there is no treatment for.
Chcolate can poison, but WHITE chocolate is not really chocolate, and does not have that chemical in it, aslo Carob is not chocolate, but tastes just like t, so I make chocolate chip cookies for my animals, with carob  or white chocolate chips.
The grandchildren also like those cookies, and they love having some they can share with the dogs.
After an animal is weaned, milk will sometimes give them too loose or too bound uo bowels. some dogs and cats can drink it with no problems.
My dogs hear a cheese packet being opened, and they line up, ready to take turns.They each get about one slice. they love all kinds of cheeses.
The cost is the main reason I limit how much they get.LOL
All the turkey etc at holidays (NEVER any ham!)all the cheese snacks, everything I feed them, I calculate into their nutrition requirements. I count calories for them too, even more than I do for myself. I want them to live a long time and be healthy. It works.My dogs consistently live 3 to 5 years more then their breed's life expectancy.
also, I never give them bones, of ANY kind. The only safe bone for a dog to chew on is a knuckle bone, and I never come across any of those.That is the only bone they can't bite into splinters.
Steak bones, beef rib bones etc, are just as dangerour for them as chicken bones are. They can all splinter, and swallowing those splinters can cut up their intestines on the way through their digestive track, and make for some serious surgeries, or even death.They can also choke on them.
Dogs in the wild, wolves etc, DO NOT eat bones. They crack them open and get the marrow out. That is why there are carcas bones found, and the bones are splintered into pieces, but they were not eaten.
Domestic dogs do not know eating bones is dangerous. They didn't grow up in the wild, with a mother and pack teaching them.
Just as there are some herbs etc animals can eat, and humans will be poisoned by them, there are certain foods animals cannot eat, that humans do well on.You just have to do some research and find out what these things are.
There is a site listing poisonous plants and herbs for animals, all the information you would ned, you can find on the web. Just put it in a search engine and click.
These people who say no to anything but commercial dog food, just don't have enough information, and people tend to pay attention to, and believe, any rumor they hear.
Animals need a certain percentage of nutrients. They need to get all the nutrients they need to be healthy, just as humans do. There are some minerals etc they need that we don't even need.For these, because a source is not available, you need to give some dog food, unless you buy there nutrients at a pharmacy and set up your own little lab, but if they get one and a half of their dog food amount, and the other fourth of their feeding consists of treat food that is ok for them, and this is not an every day thing. By treat food, I mean food that is human food, but they can have, like a piece of steak, some vegetables, fruits etc. Not too much junk foods and sweets.
On Chrostmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter, the whole family is here. I really prepare a feast, and my animals follow around watching me cook for days, and they are excited when I come in the door with bags of groceries.
They get wrapped toys at christmas.
I feel it would be too mean to not let then participate with the family, so those days, they get all people food.
That's 3 days a year. That is not going to set their health back. they get a serving of one of the desserts too, just nothing with chocolate in it.
When you have cheese, by all means give the baby a taste or two.
I would limit it to the equivilant of 1 slice of american cheese. That amount of any kind of cheese should not hurt him.
Cheese is comfort food.
They like peanut butter too, and it is good for them.
They like fruits, vegetables, not all but some.
they have tastes just like humans do. My grand-daughter had a little terrier that would be your best friend for a blueberry. My dogs don't like blueberries, but they love strawberries, not blackberries. One of them even likes broccoli, the little Sheltie.
Learn what the nutritional needs of a dog are, and you can even cook for them, if you want to. Just be sure to Calculate it in with their dog food, so they get a balanced diet, and don't become unhealthy butterballs.
Grapes and raisins are a no no, there is something in them that is poisonous to animals. I am not sure what it is, just heard about this a short while ago. It scared me, because a German shepherd I had many years ago, loved grapes, and I let her eat them. My dogs have been given raisins, and foods with raisins in them.
Do you have children?
Mothers learn with their first child, every female will volunteer advice whether or not you need it, and they ones who offer most, are usually the ones who know least about raising children.
Give that baby some cheese, and tell him if his mom won't give him cheese, he can come live with Aunt charlotte. she will give him cheese once a week.