Blue cheese
CautionDon't feed blue cheese. It is among the fattiest and saltiest cheeses on the board, which makes pancreatitis the realistic risk, and the Penicillium mold that ripens it produces tremorgenic mycotoxins linked to tremors and seizures.
This food guide has not been reviewed by a veterinarian. It summarises general information from sources and should not be used to decide whether a food is suitable for an individual dog or to assess an emergency.
Check before feeding
Check the precautions before sharing
Risk depends on preparation, ingredients or amount. Read the precautions below; body weight alone cannot establish a safe portion.
Signs and health concerns
This list includes both observable signs and conditions identified through examination or testing. It cannot establish the cause or whether an exposure is safe.
- Vomiting
- Diarrhoea
- Drooling
- Poor coordination or balance
- Tremors
- Seizures
- Overheating
- Abdominal pain
- Pancreatitis
More about this food
Blue cheese is cheese with a mold deliberately grown through it. Roquefort, Gorgonzola and Stilton are all ripened with Penicillium roqueforti, which also produces roquefortine C, a tremorgen. Merck's monograph on tremorgenic neuromycotoxicosis in dogs names Penicillium growth in food, including dairy products, and in food waste such as compost as the source of penitrem A and roquefortine C, with vomiting, salivation, blepharospasm, hyperthermia, ataxia, muscle fasciculations, tremors and seizures. Onset is typically one to two hours, and even with treatment signs can take days to weeks to resolve.
Be precise about the risk, though. The documented canine tremorgen cases overwhelmingly involve moldy garbage, compost piles and spoiled nuts rather than a cube of Roquefort off a cheese board. That is not the same as a proven safe amount: mold load varies by product, and a wedge left out on the counter or pushed past its date carries more of it.
The everyday reason to keep it away from your dog is fat and salt. Blue cheese runs around 28-30% fat and is one of the highest-sodium cheeses sold, roughly 1,400-1,800 mg of sodium per 100 g. That is not a salt-poisoning dose, but it is plenty to wreck a stomach and to trigger pancreatitis, which VCA describes as sometimes set off by a fatty meal and presenting 24-72 hours later with vomiting, fever, abdominal pain and lethargy, occasionally progressing to shock and death. For a dog on a cardiac or renal low-sodium diet, the sodium alone is a problem. In practice it rarely arrives alone either: blue cheese dressing on wings, a Cobb salad, a Gorgonzola pizza, or a cheese blended with garlic and chives.
If your dog got some, write down the product, the amount and the time, then call your veterinarian or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435. Any tremor, wobbliness, heavy drooling, elevated temperature or seizure means an emergency clinic tonight, not tomorrow. Do not induce vomiting at home, especially in a dog that is already tremoring, because that is how aspiration happens. Decontamination, activated charcoal and tremor control are veterinary decisions.
Frequently asked questions
- My dog ate a small piece of blue cheese. Emergency?
- A cube-sized piece usually stays a stomach problem, but no amount has been proven safe. Note the amount and time and call your vet for advice, and go to an emergency clinic immediately if you see tremors, wobbling or a seizure.
- Can I just cut the blue veins out?
- No. The mold is not confined to the visible veins; the mycelium runs through the whole wheel. Blue cheese is also one of the fattiest and saltiest cheeses, so removing mold would not make it a reasonable treat.
- He licked blue cheese dressing off a chicken wing.
- Dressing adds oil and salt on top of the cheese, so the fat load is higher, not lower. Check the label for onion or garlic powder as well, since that is a separate toxicity, and call your vet with the ingredient list in hand.