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Those of you who have had a look round the ScrummyWalks blog site, will have noticed a recurring character. A rather small (for a Dalmation) but perfectly formed, spotty little dog called Mango (affectionately known as Mangotti Mangosteeny in our household- why my family feels the need to lengthen everyone’s name I have no idea). You may also have guessed that she is adored, spoiled and doted upon. This post is written for all dog owners, for all who love dogs, for all who look after dogs from time to time and for all of us who also love baking. My passion and pastime of food writing, nearly resulted in the loss of our wonderful dog. My cautionary tale:
Mango, like many Dalmations, is greedy in the extreme, stubborn and canny (we are a well suited pair- there, I said it before anyone else got in there first!). Her greed does not have much to do with hunger. I am convinced that no matter how much I fed her, she would still steal food. “Train her” I hear echo through the ether of computer-scape. Well, Mango is a pretty well trained dog. The trouble with training her to not steal food is that we relaxed as she improved. We let our guard down. She was quick. She was silent. She was opportunistic. She finished every single last bit, leaving not a trace……………………she surely qualifies for Spydog training?
I love baking of all kinds, including bread. Nothing makes me feel more homely than feeding my family well and home-made bread, especially the rustic, earthy kind, epitomises this.
It was the evening of Bank Holiday Monday. A picnic with my children and friends was planned for the following day. I had explored a new recipe and embarked on a recipe for baguettes that involved a 24 hour pre- ferment. This detail is significant as you will soon see. A pre- ferment is when a proportion of the flour and yeast and water is left to ferment for a time before the rest of the yeast, flour and other ingredients are added. The texture is more robust and the bread has a deeper flavour. More yeast is involved and by definition, more fermentation takes place in the overall bread making process.
The raw dough had proven once, been knocked back, shaped into baguettes and was just at the end of the second prove, about to be baked in the oven. How much? Well that’s also significant- FOUR baguettes! Small baguettes, but none the less- FOUR baguettes. That’s about three more than I would have guessed could have fitted into my slinky little dogs spotty belly.
Mango, asleep on the sofa, opened one eye when I disturbed her, to go and put the bread in the oven. She closed it again and ostensibly went back to sleep like that the good dog she would have us believe that she is. I turned my back for seconds to put something away and all the bread dough had vanished- Piff -Paff! The only clues were a sheepish, head- hung- low Mango, and a light dusting of flour on the kitchen tiles.
The events that followed were pretty unpleasant. We were in total disbelief. There was no way that amount of raw dough could fit in a dog. We searched for a possible hiding place (surely she must have eaten a little and hidden the rest?). Within minutes it was clear that it was pointless to search for any hiding place- Mango was distressed, her stomach visibly enlarging as we watched. She tried to vomit and couldn’t. She lay on the floor in odd positions, getting up to twist around every few seconds. I called the vet surgery as my ever calm husband turned to Google.
The on- call vet initially sounded pretty calm and advocated that we “watch and wait”. He would call back in 10 minutes. As I put down the phone, Mango worsened. She started to whimper and cry in distress then suddenly she was quiet. She lay with her head on her paws, became almost still and her eyes dulled. My minds eye saw the expanding dough in her small stomach and I thought she must have already perforated.
Thankfully, Mango was only like this very briefly before sitting up again and vomiting about a quarter of the dough. After this she brightened and seemed quiet but more comfortable. Having witnessed this deterioration I was no longer at all happy to “watch and wait”. Fortunately, the vet had also looked up “ingestion of bread dough” and realised the urgency and called back immediately.
After a short car journey to the practice, an X-ray revealed a grossly distended stomach at risk of perforating. Mango was rushed to theatre and I was left with a agonising wait. 2.5 hours later, we received a call to say all had gone well. Mango would have a couple of nights on IV fluids and they would carefully monitor her blood sodium and glucose levels.
Mango recovered well. She is an off- lead dog, usually enjoying a large degree of freedom to run and frolic with her doggy pals. 10 days of restricted on- lead exercise was tough but she coped with it with her usual grace.
In the end, the vet was brilliant and moved swiftly and decisively having looked up the dangers of dough. To be fair, vets are frequently faced with dogs who have ingested all sorts of things and most foods just come out the other end eventually. It is not every day that you meet a dog who has swallowed 4 baguettes worth of raw bread dough (with extra yeast)!
My reason for this post is not for catharsis (please excuse the terrible pun) but to “spread the word”. Most “dog people” are aware that many human foods are unsuitable for pets. When you get a dog, there are many leaflets and advice sheets in vet surgeries, internet articles and puppy books on the dangers of specific foodstuffs- sultanas, grapes, chocolate……………… I did not read one that mentioned raw bread dough.
Bread dough obviously expands, risking catastrophic perforation of the stomach. But, crucially, the fermentation process produces ethanol (alcohol) leading to ethanol poisoning of the dog which can be lethal in itself.
Bread making at home is coming back (hurrah!). Many homes will have raw dough proving on the kitchen counter as I write this. And some will also have a greedy dog, pretending to be asleep with one eye on the same bread dough, just waiting for an opportunity. Only a few seconds are needed!
I would love to help “spread the word” to dog owners about just how dangerous raw bread dough is for dogs, how important it is to keep the dough absolutely out of reach. And how vital it is to act extremely promptly after ingestion. Please do forward this post to anyone you know who has a dog, dog sitters, dog trainers, vets, vet nurses………..as widely as possible. Thank you for reading.
Yeast bread dough after proving for 40 minutes (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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