First things first, can dogs eat yogurt?
The short answer is yes the can.
However, just because they can eat yogurt doesn’t necessarily mean that they should. The better question is whether or not they should be eating yogurt or not.
While yogurt is not toxic to dogs, it does contain some ingredients that might be difficult for dogs to digest.
Can Dogs Eat Yogurt?
The Pros and Cons Of Yogurt For Dogs
There are some pros and cons to dogs eating yogurt.
First of all, if you are feeding your dogs yogurt, make sure it is plain yogurt. It shouldn’t have any additional sweeteners to it such as xylitol which are toxic for dogs.
The pros is that yogurt has some health benefits for our dogs. This includes protein and calcium for our dogs and it can help improve their digestive system. Plain yogurt also contains lower levels of lactose than regular yogurt which is good for dogs.
On the other hand, our dogs might have trouble digesting yogurt especially when they are younger pups. Some puppies are lactose intolerant and feeding them yogurt can cause diarrhea and vomiting.
Yogurt also has a high fat content which can cause an upset stomach. Additionally, yogurt’s high fat content can also cause pancreatitis in the long run and this could be fatal.
If your dog vomits or experience diarrhea after you give them yogurt, give your vet a call immediately. Especially if your dog accidentally consumes yogurt.
Just to recap, make sure the yogurt you will feed your dog is plain and free from artificial sweeteners, especially xylitol.
It is also important to give your vet a call before you start introducing yogurt to your dogs. This way you can know if your dogs have any existing allergies or lactose intolerance.
So, yes you CAN feed your dogs yogurt, however, you have to be very careful and you might be better off sticking to feeding them other yummy foods that don’t come with some of the risks that yogurt can cause for dogs.
Learn More About What Human Foods Are Healthy or Harmful for Dogs
This article is part of our special series of articles about “What Human Foods Can Dogs Eat?”
Please check out other articles in the series including: Can Dogs Eat Almonds?
