The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Yeast & dogs

SallyBR's picture
SallyBR

Yeast & dogs

please, don't ask questions...  (sigh)

 

is it a problem for a dog (dalmatian)  to eat about 1 tablespoon of yeast?  

 

this has not been a good beginning of the evening.

 

 

LindyD's picture
LindyD

I don't think so, Sally.  I've heard of people giving their dogs brewer's yeast to keep fleas away and it's the same strain.

I won't ask for the details.  We have a comical Standard Poodle in the family who has gotten into more interesting things than yeast, so I know where you're coming from.

Doc Tracy's picture
Doc Tracy

I had a lab that was 6 weeks pregnant that ate pea gravel. So much pea gravel that when she had surgery it filled half of a 5 gallon bucket!

Is your dog a lab or some retriever variety? Or something a lab descended from, like poodle, newfoundland?

My doberman and chihuahua don't seem to have this fetish, knock on wood. However, the dobe has been known to eat habaneros, salad with salad dressing (even the left over oil/vinegar with lots of habs on my husbands plate, yuck!), and just about any other funny thing my husband will give her for comic relief. Thank goodness they will both roll their eyes when he trys to give them a taste of scotch or beer!

Mine are on a very strict "healthfood" diet, with a non-grain dog food. They do however get far too many dog bicuits and rawhide chewies.

They also get a taste of just about anything we are eating and all the leftover oatmeal, fruits/veggies they can eat.

Except the chocolate, onions,  and raisins. I do fudge and give them a few grapes. I think yeast is fine.

Aussie Pete's picture
Aussie Pete

How does brewers yeast keep fleas away? Prey, please tell as were spending a small fortune on flea killers for our dog.......love to know.....Pete

greydoodles's picture
greydoodles

Pete, here is what I wrote below: "Note: The brewer's yeast for flea control basically works by creating an odor on a dog's skin that fleas do not like. Ditto for a doggy breath which humans might not like. A good side effect is that it is good for a dog's coat." Brewer's Yeast tablets are available at the drug store.

You can also try garlic tablets that work in a similar way as the brewer's yeast tablets.

HOWEVER, neither remedy will work for all dogs.

The fleas in the yard and/or in your carpeting need to be killed also. Search the internet for egg-laying-cycle info and ways to eradicate the fleas. Limit the walking range of your dog. It could be the dog is picking up fleas from a neighbor's yard and bringing them home ... and the fleas are then taking over your home and yard.

Good luck.

althetrainer's picture
althetrainer

Well, chances are your dog will be fine.  It's amazing what dogs will eat and the things they can stomach.  I know a lady whose dog loves wasabi.  The fido will eat one whole teaspoon of pure wasabi in one sitting.  If I ate that much of wasabi I would have to head straight to the bathroom!  LOL

Al

SallyBR's picture
SallyBR

THanks, I feel better already...

 

I swear, we need a video camera in this household....  I keep my instant yeast in a mason jar in the freezer. After making my dough, I went to put it back there, and it slipped from my hand, I saw the whole thing happen in a sort of slow motion, the lid waaaaaay to one side, the bottle waaay to the other

 

yeast EVERYWHERE, and our old dalmatian, deaf as a stone, somehow was right on the spot - of course, I had to scream from the top of my  lungs to get him out of there, which only got the Jack Russell revved up and ready to join the yeast party.

No wonder I needed a drink with dinner.

 

 

Faith in Virginia's picture
Faith in Virginia

I have four dogs and two love the starter and two turn their nose up at it. I put the starter in some bowles then let them in and it's like watching a baseball runner slide into home plate. So they eat yeast often with no ill effects.

Faith

greydoodles's picture
greydoodles

A tablespoon of brewer's yeast per day is a remedy for dog fleas. It actually works for many dogs, but not all.

Don't leave your container with discarded sourdough starter near the edge of the counter if your dog can reach the counter, steal the container, and lap up every drop of starter. No ill effects for the dog, but I was a nervous wreck while keeping an eye out for signs of problems for a few days.

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Actually, the enzymes and acid in the dog's stomach would probably de-activate the yeast quickly.

David

greydoodles's picture
greydoodles

That's good news. I am better about making sure my darn dog cannot reach anything I leave on the counter. Luckily my cooling rack fits on top of my microwave ... yep, he polished off a beautiful loaf of bread while it was cooling.

Note: The brewer's yeast for flea control basically works by creating an odor on a dog's skin that fleas do not like. Ditto for a doggy breath which humans might not like. A good side effect is that it is good for a dog's coat.

AnnieT's picture
AnnieT

Sorry to chip in, David, but I want to warn people not to let their dogs eat grapes and especially raisins. My son and family lost a lovely young Black Lab. mix dog when he got into some raisins and died of kidney failure. I know it's amazing what dogs will eat (steal) like a friend's Golden Doodle who ate most of a chocolate cake which was left on the counter. Thank goodness my Pug can't reach, A.

SallyBR's picture
SallyBR

Thanks for all the input....

 

dog slept well, but seems a little "gassy" - more than his usual self, which means me and hubby are paying a bit of a price for my kitchen "accident"

 

amazing that the Golden Doodle ate a chocolate cake and did not get sick from it, I think chocolate is really dangerous, especially bittwersweet.

 

 

threedogs's picture
threedogs

Sally, I realize this is a day late - but I wanted to relate what my dog, Emma did. She's a rescue dog - Border Collie w/chocolate-chip speckled legs (dalamation-like), who is always on the hunt for food.

My apt is kind of linked to my landlords' house, and in the summer they often leave some of their doors open. Well, one day last summer I noticed she wasn't in my apt even though we had just come in from the yard (she's also very good at sneaking away).

I called & called, and finally she appeared on the other side of my landlords' glass doors - with foam all over her mouth. Well, she has seizures, but I knew from experience this was NOT from a seizure. I ran into their kitchen to find a huge bag of yeast (the 1 lb size I buy but keep in my freezer) open.. on the floor..

Yep - she helped herself to who-knows-how much.. after a call to my vet that was useless, and lots of searching online, and since she survived eating the huge spicy pulled pork roast she ate once, the HUGE loaf of ciabatta bread, and all the stuff she used to find outside - I felt she'd survive this.. and she did (thank heaven!) without even the expected gas! (anyway, there is only so much panicing one can go through without going totally crazy..)

Our Houdini-dog keeps me on my toes... lol...hope your pooch is doing well today.

I have to add: we're the only family I know where it's just a matter-of-fact that we keep the trash bucket on top of the refrigerator.

Zeb's picture
Zeb

the current list of dog bad foods is:  grapes and raisins, chocolate -  the darker the worse it is, there is a question mark over cocoa shells used for mulch or compost in gardens as these too,  onions and potentially other alliums, garden bulbs, lily of the valley etc.  Dog friendly food: cottage loaves, sourdough, ginger biscuits, liver cake ! Hope your dog is OK now :)  Zeb 

 

(the real Zeb, small black miniature poodle ate an entire plate of lebkuchen at christmas with home made candied peel)

 

 

Marni's picture
Marni

I hope you don't mind another story - A favorite memory of mine from childhood is of a family BBQ where my sister left her plate on the table to get something and came back to find that our family dog (a mutt named Jinks - Beagle and who-knows-what -else) had eaten everything except the asparagus.  He had carefully pushed that aside and licked everything else clean!  Even the dog didn't want to eat vegetables.  A kid's best friend!

Marni

Janknitz's picture
Janknitz

Our previous lab mix once ate 16 boxes of girl scout cookies, many of them chocolate, with no ill effects.

Actually, I'm not sure she ate them all (or at least all at once).  I was washing dishes a few days later when I heard a thunk behind me.  I turned around to find a half eaten box (she had eaten the box AND the cookies) full of dirt and grass--I think she buried them. 

By all accounts, the chocolate could have killed her, but fortunately it did not (malignant melanoma did :o(.

SallyBR's picture
SallyBR

Oh, how sad that she is gone... that IS the huge drawback of pets, they don't live long enough

 

I guess I'm in good company here - lots of dogs getting in trouble for their hearty appetites...

 

Our dear dalmatian once ate 2 HUGE T-bone steaks, that were placed over the counter, but too close to the edge.  They were wrapped in plastic, somehow he managed to avoid eating the wrap.  In less than 2 minutes they were gone, that was the time it took me to go to the garage grab something and come back to find the crime scene.

He also swallowed (with paper wrapping and all) a couple of sticks of butter that were getting "softened" at room temperature.  

 

But, I guess my husband's dalmatian in his college days takes the cake: rather, the pot roast.  He and his roomates had prepared a nice pot roast and it was resting over the dinner table.  They were doing something outside, came back to eat and the dog was STANDING on top of the table, just about done eating the roast, potatoes and all.   Can you imagine it?

SallyBR's picture
SallyBR

Well, even with all the canine troubles, the bread turned out ok - I forgot to slash it before baking, proving that a person can make the exact same mistake more than 5 times in the space of a few months.

I made cottage loaf, which I wanted to make for a long, long time....   If you are interested, follow this link

 

http://bewitchingkitchen.com/2010/03/25/cottage-loaf-and-yeasty-dogs/

threedogs's picture
threedogs

Sally, the loaf looks beautiful! Doesn't look like it needed slashing - see what we can do while our canine pups drive us nuts?!! Ha - I honestly wonder if I can bake properly when nothing is going on around me (I'm kidding - I'm actually in a place in my life where things are very peaceful now).

I would like to add something in my kitchen where I could put cookie sheets and pans up VERY high, so I don't have to turn my kitchen into a fort to protect whatever I've baked from the Hunter (Emma),though, lol.

threedogs's picture
threedogs

No wonder I love this forum - bread and dogs, my two favorite subjects!

Diatomateous earth (not the kind for pools) is supposed to be good to kill fleas. If I had a reasonable back yard (instead of the several acres where I am now renting, lol), I'd spread it there.

Feel I should pass along this info: for more than a year my oldest dog (Shiloh, now 12) suffered from the worst ear infections. What made it worse is that he turns from the sweetest dog on earth to psycho-vet killer whenever we visit the vets AND he is the Houdini of removing all muzzles. Plus, we couldn't get any liquid into his ear, so he just got worse & worse, shaking his head all the time. Broke my heart. I live on disability, so I could no longer afford to pay close to a thousand dollars so the vet could clean his ears under aneasthesia!

But when I brought my other dog, Emma, for a check up, a different vet at the same place told me she had flea dirt - what fleas leave behind after biting their hosts. Ugh.

So despite my fears of increasing seizures for Emma, I decided to try the fleas stuff he recommended (Frontline Plus - maybe there are others good on the market, but it's what works for us). I also give Shiloh benadryl (except for the dead of winter, when he doesn't need it) for allergies.(I found almost a year's supply in double dose pills online, for super-cheap, so that helps).

Today he's a changed dog! Sure, he's old (12 yrs for a large dog -he's about 75/80 lbs - makes him a senior citizen) and suffers from arthritis, but we have the ear problem under control - a year ago I would not have believed it would be possible. He's happy, and looks so much better - even his coat looks better. Now I'm starting supplements for his arthritis.