Home > Blog > Can Dogs Eat Yoghurt? Yes, But I Would Not Bother
Quick Facts
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Can dogs eat yoghurt? | Plain and unsweetened, in very small amounts |
| The best type if you do | Plain Greek. More protein, less sugar, less lactose |
| The real danger | Flavoured yoghurt. Xylitol causes liver failure and death |
| How much | Half a teaspoon for a small dog, up to 3 tablespoons for a giant |
| Whether they need it | No. Nothing about yoghurt is necessary for a dog |
| Our own practice | We have never given it, and we do not intend to |
| The bigger risk | Prevention. A cat of ours pulled a bin over to reach a sachet |
This is our own research, not veterinary advice. For nearly every food there are many sources, and they do not always agree with each other. We check each claim against the veterinary and poison control sources, and we say plainly where they disagree. Even so, if you are in any doubt, contact a vet and do your own research before you feed anything to an animal in your care.
Plain, unsweetened yoghurt is safe for dogs, and Greek is the better version because it has more protein, less sugar and less lactose than the ordinary kind. The real danger is flavoured yoghurt, which can contain xylitol and is a genuine emergency rather than a stomach ache. That said, we have never given yoghurt to a pet and I do not think they need it. If you want to give it, that is your call, and the page below tells you how to do it safely.
I have never given a dog or a cat yoghurt. I am not big on dairy myself, I rarely eat it, and for gut health I would reach for pickles or kimchi before I reached for a yoghurt.
That makes this an unusual page. Most of the writing about yoghurt and dogs argues that it is a good thing and tells you how much to give. I do not think it is a good thing, and I would rather set out why than pretend to a view I do not hold.
The honest position is that yoghurt is safe rather than necessary. If that sounds like a distinction without a difference, the cheese page is where I make the same argument about the other dairy food people ask about.
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Can Dogs Eat Yoghurt? Yes, Plain and Unsweetened
Plain yoghurt is safe for dogs. It is not toxic, and a spoonful will not hurt a healthy animal. Greek yoghurt is the better of the two, because it has far more protein and less sugar than the ordinary kind, and less lactose, which is the part many dogs struggle to digest.
The published portions are small. Half a teaspoon for a dog under 5kg, a teaspoon for a dog of 5 to 9kg, a tablespoon for a medium dog, two for a large one and three for a giant, up to once a day. Treats of any kind should stay under about 10% of a dog's daily calorie intake, which is the standard most vets and the literature give.
The things to watch afterwards are the usual dairy signals: gas, loose stool, or itching that was not there before. If any of those turn up, the answer is to stop rather than to reduce.
And if a dog has pancreatitis, is overweight or is diabetic, yoghurt is a poor choice whatever the portion, because the fat and the sugar are the problem in each of those cases.
Flavoured Yoghurt Is the Real Danger
This is the part worth reading even if you never give your dog a plain yoghurt, and it is the reason I am glad this page exists.
Flavoured yoghurts, fruit corners, drinking yoghurts and the ones aimed at children routinely contain sweeteners, and xylitol turns up among them. Xylitol is fatal to dogs in small amounts. It causes a dangerous drop in blood sugar and liver failure, and it can move fast. A dog that has eaten a yoghurt containing it needs an emergency vet on the way, not a wait and see.
Ordinary sugar is a lesser problem but still a problem: vomiting, diarrhoea and weight gain, from a food people tend to think of as healthy.
If it has already happened, what to do when a pet eats something dangerous covers the sequence, and with xylitol the sequence is fast rather than cautious.
The best type, if you are going to give one, is plain Greek yoghurt with nothing else in it. If the ingredient list has anything in it beyond milk and cultures, put it back. That single check removes the whole risk.
The Probiotic Claim, and Why I Do Not Buy It
Yoghurt is endlessly recommended as a gut fix for pets. The claim is that the live cultures support digestion and settle a troubled stomach. The published material lists benefits including gut health, nutrient absorption and the immune system.
My own view, and it is opinion rather than science, is that it is not worth much. I look at how a dog evolved over hundreds and thousands of years. Did they eat yoghurt back then? No. They ate meat, berries, grass and whatever they could find, and none of that came out of a tub. A yoghurt is a food we invented recently, for us, and I do not see the argument for it being necessary to an animal that got along without it for a very long time.
What I think the cleanest diet looks like is raw meat, some raw vegetables and some berries. That is my preference rather than a rule I would impose on anybody, and I am not going to dress it up as research.
If a pet is fed well, it tends to have fewer problems. When something does go wrong, my instinct is to look at what it is eating rather than to add another food on top of it. A spoonful of yoghurt on top of a diet that is not working is not a fix.
There is one more thing I would say against it. Even Greek yoghurt is pasteurised, which is a heating process, and my view is that heating takes most of the good out of a food in the first place. So even on its own terms, the thing that is supposed to make yoghurt worth eating is largely gone by the time it reaches the tub.
If You Do Give It, How
This is not a page telling anybody off, and some owners do give yoghurt and are happy with it. So here is how to do that without getting anything wrong.
Plain Greek, unsweetened, nothing else in the ingredient list. Start with less than the published portion and build up over a week or so, watching for gas, loose stool or itching. Keep it under the treat ceiling.
It can go on its own in a bowl, mixed through the normal food, frozen into a small treat, or stuffed into a toy. Frozen is the version most dogs enjoy most, and on a hot day it is a good way to occupy an animal for a while.
And if a dog has eaten a flavoured yoghurt with xylitol rather than a plain one, do not wait. Ring a vet or a poison line, describe the yoghurt and the amount, and follow their advice.
On a Sit: What I Use Instead
On a sit, the question of what to have in your hand matters more than usual, because you are often trying to get a pill into an animal that has no particular reason to trust you yet.
Yoghurt is not what I use. A small piece of sardine is my first choice, because almost every dog and cat will take one and a piece the size of a fingernail holds a tablet without being a meal. Failing that, a small piece of ham wrapped round the pill works.
What I would not do is invent a new delivery method on a sit with an animal I do not know. Some dogs will find a pill in anything and some will eat around it, and the owner usually knows which one you have.
The habit that covers this is asking before you improvise, and the pre-sit question list is where it starts. The detail of getting a tablet in is on the medication page.
Where This Research Comes From
The sources behind this page:
PetMD: Can Dogs Eat Yogurt?, the safety verdict, the Greek versus regular comparison, the xylitol warning, the health concerns, the portion table and the lactose guidance.
ASPCA: People Foods to Avoid Feeding Your Pets, the avoid-list check, which plain yoghurt is absent from, and the entries for xylitol and milk.
Conclusion
Plain Greek yoghurt is safe for a dog in a small enough portion, and flavoured yoghurt is a genuine emergency waiting in a fridge, because of xylitol. Those are the two facts that matter.
As for whether to give it at all, we do not, and I do not think a pet is missing anything. If you do, keep it plain, keep it small, and keep the tub somewhere they cannot get to. That last one is the part I would actually insist on.
Caro and I have completed 20 house sits across 12 countries, driven 19,000km across Europe in our 1998 VW T4, and saved over $26,500 in accommodation costs over three years of house sitting.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can dogs eat yoghurt?
Plain, unsweetened yoghurt is safe in small amounts. Greek is the better choice, with more protein, less sugar and less lactose than the ordinary kind.
Can dogs eat Greek yoghurt?
Yes, plain and unsweetened, and it is the best version if you are going to give one. It has more protein and less sugar and lactose than regular yoghurt.
Why is flavoured yoghurt dangerous for dogs?
Because it can contain xylitol, which is fatal to dogs. It causes a dangerous drop in blood sugar and liver failure, and it needs an emergency vet rather than watching and waiting. Sugar is a lesser problem on top of that.
How much yoghurt can a dog have?
Half a teaspoon for a dog under 5kg, up to three tablespoons for a dog over 41kg, and no more than once a day. It still counts towards the 10% of daily calories that treats are allowed.
Is yoghurt good for a dog's gut?
That is the claim, and it is why yoghurt gets recommended so often. My own view is that it is not worth much, because a dog did not evolve eating it and a good diet does more for a gut than a spoonful of dairy. That is opinion rather than science.
Can puppies eat yoghurt?
Plain, unsweetened yoghurt is safe for puppies in small amounts, on the same terms as for adult dogs. Never one containing xylitol or sweeteners.
What do you use to give a dog a pill?
A small piece of sardine, because almost every dog and cat will take one and it holds a tablet without being a meal. A small piece of ham works too. Yoghurt is not what I reach for.
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