14 September 2020

A doughy mess

Speak to a vet

Claire Smith, Vet

During a hard earned coffee break the other morning we found ourselves chatting about home baking, and in particular, sourdough bread. Whilst the whole team are huge fans of all baked goods, we do have times when we wished that pets weren’t such fans of gobbling up things in the kitchen.

There are a huge array of pet hazards in the kitchen but we wondered if you knew about the dangers of bread dough? With lockdown causing a surge in home baking, there has been a five fold rise in the reported number of pets eating bread dough.

Sourdough can be fatal to pets.

Whilst we all know that bread is about a million times yummier once cooked, sometimes our trusty companions think they know best. Bread dough ingestion leads to a multifactorial problem that can be life threatening to your pets.

Firstly, once a pet has eaten the dough, the yeast finds itself in the stomach which is a lovely temperature for a proving drawer. The dough expands greatly and this can cause the stomach to become greatly distended; potentially leading to a blockage or even a twisted stomach.

The second way in which bread dough is hazardous is that during the fermentation process, alcohol is produced which can then cause severe intoxication in our otherwise tee-total friends.

Most cases will respond well to early treatment which focuses on evacuating the dough from the stomach to reduce the risk of bloat and alcohol intoxication. Prompt treatment is needed for any pet who has eaten bread dough so if ever you find that your pet has been too helpful in the kitchen then please do call us urgently!

Dough can cause a twisted stomach in dogs. Take your dog to the vet if they consume any dough.

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