Is it OK to feed a puppy some cheese?

Diego, my 12 weeks golden retriever puppy, loves yogurt! And yesterday my husband gave him a small piece of La Vache Qui Rit (a kind of cream cheese), and he gobbled it right up, gone in seconds. :D

So I bought some Kraft Single last night, but am not sure if Kraft Single would be a good source of nutrients for him. I know that goldens have a tendency to get really fat, so I'm also a little bit worried that he could get used to the cheese.

What do you think?

I give Daisy cheese ~ as a treat only though & not every day or even every week, as I don't want her getting fat or bad cholesteral etc. ~ she loves it!

I'd take it easy on the cheesy, as it, like many other dairy products, can cause gas and bloating and diarrhea. If you do choose to give it, I'd use only a small amount as an occasional treat. I have to watch my one dog, as she gets very uncomfortable in the gut with dairy stuff. Yogurt seems to have a good bacterial in it to aid digestion in humans, but I don't know about dogs, especially pups.

Diego has no negative reactions to yogurt, we feed him about 2 tablespoon of plein non-fat yogurt everyday, as a treat, and a few baby carrots, also as treats, and sometimes a couple of ice cubes. He loves all of them.

I will go easy on the cheese, only a small portion to start with, and only as treats. Thanks for the feedback.

Too much cheese is not good for dogs, its a good idea to easy.
I used cheese as a special treat when training… its was very helpful especially when teaching them to come when called. :)
Yogurt is good for them.

Yogurt was recommended by the vet, as long as it has active bacteria -- otherwise there is no point. Too much dairy of any kind and our baby has a good long day with the runs. She loves cheese wiz in her kong, but we can only do it so often otherwise we are in for an uncomfy time. I cut up tiny pieces of mozz. cheese for training, same with chicken hotdogs. But, since they are only used for training she doesn't get so much of either she becomes used to them, and the pieces are so small they don't have adverse effects.

mafiaprincess: do you know which brands of yogurt contain probiotics. I know Danone's Activa does, but it's not plain and quite expensive. Do Danone's other yogurt product also contain active yogurt cultures?

CBC MARKETPLACE: FOOD » PROBIOTICS
Testing bacteria levels
Broadcast: September 9, 2003 | Reporter: Kelly Crowe; Producer: Maxine Sidran; Researcher: Louisa Jaslow

Probiotics
The big blue blob in front - probiotics

Marketplace chose four popular yogurt brands and two types of capsules. We had a lab test each product twice. The first time, we took products fresh off the shelf to see how much live bacteria was there. The second time, we took products near the end of the shelf life to see if the counts had fallen.

Our results? The products did contain live bacteria just as they claimed. But is it enough bacteria to have a probiotic effect?

Scientists say that for real fighting power, products should have somewhere between one million and one billion live bacteria fighters.

Capsules

The two supplements we tested

The Swiss label said 6 billion live cultures per capsule on the label. But our first test showed a fraction of that — 1.7 billion. Two weeks later, millions more bacteria died, leaving just 460 million still alive. Swiss broke its own promise of 6 billion per capsule.

Udo’s Choice promised, and delivered, more than one billion in the first test. But on the follow-up test, just 692 million bacteria remained alive.

So both brands fell below their claims.

"This is particularly disheartening," Reid said. "You’re getting a massive drop in viability, even within two weeks. You’ve picked two products but you could have picked 10 or 15 and, according to European studies, you’d find the same kind of results where you get a drop off in viability."

Yogurts

Scientists say there should be one million to one billion active cultures per gram to be probiotic.

Astro BioBest started with the most - 794 million live bacterial cultures per gram. But near the end of shelf life, almost two-thirds had died. That's still in the ballpark.

Organic Meadow and Danone stayed above the million mark on each test.

"They claim to have active cultures, in which case their claims are correct," Reid noted.

Liberty fared the worst on our test, starting off low at just 118,000 live bacterial cultures per gram — and dropping to just 4,000 after two weeks.

Reid believes there's not much probiotic benefit in that.

"I can’t imagine that you’d have any health benefit when you’re getting 400 or 3,000 organisms," Reid said.

Marketplace asked all the manufacturers for interviews. Only Danone agreed. In our test, their yogurt did well.

We wanted to talk about the growing business of probiotics. Currently, Danone’s yogurt contains just basic bacteria. The company says Canadians just aren’t ready to embrace bacteria in their food - even if it is good for them.

"By talking about bacteria, you generate a certain kind of fear concerning the product. So we are talking about live active cultures."

Danone says it wants to expand the types of active cultures in its Canadian yogurt, but first the company has to convince Ottawa to change its labelling rules so it can market the health value of that bacteria right on the label. It's currently against the law to make a specific health claim about probiotics on the package.

Healthy skepticism?

Our test results were bad news for Vito Puglisi and his family. Liberty is one of the brands they use. "I’m always skeptical. I never take anything at face value," Vito says.

Vito will be getting some help soon from Ottawa. In early summer, new rules on Natural Health Products take effect - by law, the claim on the label will have to match the bacteria level inside the bottle.

But for yogurt, nothing will change. If the label does not make a specific health claim, the bacteria level will not be regulated.

Detailed test results

We tested two supplement products and four yogurt products for live active cultures.

Supplements:

1) Swiss Capsule
Claim: 6 billion active cultures

First test
1.7 billion

Second test
460 million

2) Udo Capsule
Claim: 1 billion viable cells

First test
2.1 billion

Second test
692 million

Yogurt:

1) Liberty
Claim: Contains active acidophilus and bifidus

First test
118,000

Second test
4,000

2) Organic Meadow
Claim: Contains active yogurt cultures

First test
100 million

Second test
6 million

3) Astro Biobest
Claim: Contains Acidophilus and Bifidobacterium

First test
794 million

Second test
260 million

4) Danone
Claim: Contains active yogurt cultures

First test
180 million

Second test
120 million

http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/food/yogurt/index2.html

I would save it for treats,(real cheese) and it's GREAT when you have to give them a pill--put it in the SECOND piece for those smart a** puppies. ;)

As for Kraft Singles, I believe that is actually an oil-based product. Again, I would save it only for kong stuffing. :thumbs up

Nymph, I just went to the grocery store and read the labels.. We ended up getting Astro 1% plain yogurt in the huge container. Since it has a lid, it is easier to scoop out some and put it away. We found after having a UTI and feeding her yogurt in her food for two weeks she was kind of sick of it though. I mixed frozen berries in with it every few days and it became 'fresh and new' at least to her.

I think I would avoid processed cheese when treating my dog. The ingrdients are kind of sketchy. For kong stuffing there are knock off brands of cheese wiz that come in light or fat free if you are worried about weight gain.

as far as probiotics, I always thought that anything of "quality" had to be kept in the fridge. If you can buy it on the shelf--not in the refridgerator in the store--then I've heard that the effort is pointless.

I give my dogs a capsule of Cal'dophilus, sold in health food stores (in the fridge) claiming 10 billion active cells. I guess even if 1/4 survive, 2-3 bilion active cells is better than nothing. Yogurt is good too, but I find they don't need the added sugar. :)

Mafia princess-- If you are using yogurt to help treat an infection, you should really give the pills a try. Added sugars, even in some plain yogurts, make it easier for infection to survive.

I would save it for treats,(real cheese) and it's GREAT when you have to give them a pill--put it in the SECOND piece for those smart a** puppies. ;)

As for Kraft Singles, I believe that is actually an oil-based product. Again, I would save it only for kong stuffing. :thumbs up

twinmommy: what's real cheese? Cheese is not part of our everyday diet, I know very little about it. Is cottage cheese real cheese? Or cream cheese? :confused:

We had the 2 week course of pills prescribed by the vet when she had a UTI... just we were told to also feed yogurt at the same time.

I would consider real cheese a block of cheese.. like mozzerella, or cheddar etc. Cream cheese packs on the pounds fast. My roomates JRT is a prime example of why not to put cream cheese in a kong.

I give Odin 2 tsp of Astro 1% plain unflavoured (no sugar) yogurt with his evening meal. It's nice to know that they faired well in the testing, as I eat it daily too!!

In the morning, if he doesn't eat his food plain, I may sprinkle a *little* (less than 1/2 tsp...maybe a 1/4 tsp) of parmesan cheese on his food. He gobbles it up. Sometimes I take fish oil capsules, soak them in a little hot water until they break, stir up the oil/water, and pour over his food.

As for cheese, Odin loves it. We can't use Peanut Butter (allergies), so cheesewhiz is one of the few things we can use in his kong. We sometimes use yogurt (but it's so thin it leaks out easily). His kibble doesn't soften up very well, so stuffing it with softened kibble doesn't work. Usually it's fill the bottom with something (cheese whiz, yogurt, pea butter..if we can find it) fill with veggies like carrots and brocolli, or kibble, and top with more cheese whiz, etc, then freeze.

I would consider real cheese a block of cheese.. like mozzerella, or cheddar etc. Cream cheese packs on the pounds fast. My roomates JRT is a prime example of why not to put cream cheese in a kong.

Duly noted, and thank you! :D

Nymph-- hee hee I meant "real cheese" as opposed to Kraft Singles. Real cheese would be like cheddar, mozzarella, and I think I'd put cottage cheese in the real cheese category.

Cream Cheese on the other hand, because it has added sugars would be more under the "process cheese" category. Along with Cheez Whiz.


Mafiaprincess--Yogurt helps with the natural bacterial flora, that gets destroyed by antibiotics. Sometimes antibiotics gives them diarrhea and the pill form of probiotics is more helpful than the dairy product, as dairy can sometimes cause diarrhea and/or constipation.

Both my boys eat cheese and love it, never any problems but like anything depends on how much you give right.

In the morning, if he doesn't eat his food plain, I may sprinkle a *little* (less than 1/2 tsp...maybe a 1/4 tsp) of parmesan cheese on his food. He gobbles it up. Sometimes I take fish oil capsules, soak them in a little hot water until they break, stir up the oil/water, and pour over his food.

raingirl: that's something I might be trying. Diego started picking his food a few days back, not finishing his usual portion or eat some and go play and eat more later. I usually only leave his food for 15 minutes, and take away the dish, but lately since he's not finishing up his usual portion, I've been pretty lax with his food dish. This started roughly since we started feeding him yogurt. It might be only a coincidence, since we only feed him 2 tbsp everyday, 30ml in total.

Am I spoiling him with too much treats?

Good to know twinmommy. I only feed dairy as a treat *her uti was a few months ago* but I may look into pill form. Being a first time dog owner, and not knowing much about probiotics I just went with what the vet said, but ended up also with astro sugar free yogurt at least.

For yogurt as kong stuffing -- we have the nutro lamb and rice sticks. We break off a piece which is the perfect size for plugging the hole in a kong, spoon yogurt in -- some times also dumping kibble in as well, put it in the freezer overnight being careful to keep it standing, and by morning we have a no mess yogurt kong and a clean freezer.

Ohh you have to FREEZE the kong. I wasn't sure how that thing works. We bought a kong cube for Diego, and I've put a few kibble treats in, but Diego couldn't get it out. I even tried myself to get it out, it's almost impossible and VERY FRUSTRATING! lol I totally understand my little puppy's frustration.

So the kong's been sitting in his toy box for a while now...dumb dumb me!

Well you don't have to freeze it, but freezing makes it last longer = occupied dog for longer. Sticky things like peanut butter of cheeze wiz or canned dog food are okay not frozen, but messy things are less of a mess when they are frozen. Our lil houdini can finish a cheeze wiz kong in 5 minutes, so we now try to plan ahead and have a frozen kong waiting in our freezer.

But puppys have a short attention span, and starting off not frozen, or having a kong with something easy like a dog cookie sticking out the end is more enticing.

Oh yeah, I would always run things by my vet first. somtimes they are just telling us the "easy way" not realizing that we are prepared to make extra effort--and sometimes they are not aware themselves, especially with stuff like nutrition. My vet is totally cool and "up to date" but some just know how to push the food they sell. Trinitie just posted a great list of toxic things for dogs in another thread. ("Is this ok." )

Thanks for the heads up.. I move next month and get to start the process of finding another vet all over again, when I just got to liking this one.