Is Oikos Vanilla Greek Yogurt Okay?

[Rocky1]

This is what I am considering feeding my buddy (a big adorable eastern gray) and am wondering if it is okay?

http://www.oikosyogurt.com/products/greek-nonfat-yogurt-single-serve/vanilla/

Ingredients are, cultured non-fat grade A milk, water, sugar, fructose, modified corn starch, contains less than 1% natural vanilla flavor, malic acid, potassium sorbate, sodium citrate, vitamin D3.

The main part that concerns me is the first ingredient being milk.

[Mel1959]

Many people on here feed their squirrels yogurt, but it's the full fat or whole milk versions, preferably organic. Stoneyfield makes one called yobaby, that some folks have used. There are lots of different brands that make whole milk yogurt.

[Rexie]

Whole fat yogurt is best. And not the diet type with artificial sweetners. Too many chemicals. The more natural the better. My boy likes Greek gods whole vanilla honey flavor.

[astra]

This is what I am considering feeding my buddy (a big adorable eastern gray) and am wondering if it is okay?

http://www.oikosyogurt.com/products/greek-nonfat-yogurt-single-serve/vanilla/

Ingredients are, cultured non-fat grade A milk, water, sugar, fructose, modified corn starch, contains less than 1% natural vanilla flavor, malic acid, potassium sorbate, sodium citrate, vitamin D3.

The main part that concerns me is the first ingredient being milk.
milk has to be the 1st ingredient because yogurt is fermented milk. If it's not milk, it's no longer yogurt.
But because it is fermented, it will not cause GIT problems in sqs like regular cow's milk does.

Imho, too much sugar in this - sugar +fructose. Even though it's for a wild sq, still too much sugar. In the wild squirrels do not eat refined sugar, and too much sugar causes long-term health issues not only in humans, but in other animals as well.
Modified corn starch is not a good ingredient either. Besides adding extra carbs, it is made from gmo corn.

Maybe, look for something without all those added sugars (but avoid artificial sweeteners, too - as Rexie posted).
You could get unsweetened full fat (or as fat as you can get) and sweeten it yourself. Some of the things you could do with it:
1) mix ripe mashed banana
2) add natural nut butter - almond works well. You won't even need to sweeten it if you add nut butter (speaking from experience). You'll just have to find the ratio that will work for your sq (experiment - start with more butter and reduce with subsequent meals to see how much/little you need to add).
And you won't need that much yogurt either.
On average - say, about 3 TBsp or so of yogurt + 1 TBsp of nut butter (or one heaping Tsp - again, depending on how much nut butter you sq will need in order to eat it).

You also need to keep in mind that wild sqs and indoor sqs do not always have the same taste buds.

Many indoor squirrels were raised eating yogurt, so they are used to the taste and accept it as part of their natural diet.

For wild sqs yogurt is an alien food. Some may give it a try, but others may reject it. It's totally fine.
For the indoor sqs, yogurt is needed primarily to help maintain healthy gut flora as indoor sqs do not really have any other sources of probiotics.

Wild sqs, on the other hand, probably eat enough of wild variety of foods that fulfill this function of maintaining gut flora. So, wild sqs do not really need yogurt.
To entice them to eat yogurt at all costs using sugar may not be a good idea as refined sugar causes harm long term. True, that wild sqs sometimes find sugary stuff in garbage, but it is sporadic. To make it become used to a regular supply of sugary foods will be different - you don't want them to get used to sugar.

Indoor sqs have no choice and have to eat some human-made processed foods like block - that's just a reality of being an indoor sq. But it's always best to limit processed foods as much as possible.
And, fortunately, the wilds do not absolutely have to depend on human-made processed foods.
It is best to supplement them with as natural stuff as possible: as long as we supply them with treats like good tree nuts, some of their fav. fruits etc, they will be fine.

Especially right now that spring has started - they will have plenty of natural foods.
A fortified type of supplementation of their diet is justified and necessary during late Fall, winter and ea. spring when food is scarce.
But in warm seasons - good nuts and some fruits-treats will be perfectly enough.

so, yes, be prepared for the possibility of yogurt being rejected by wild sqs :)