Can dogs eat sourdough bread safely?

Can dogs eat sourdough bread?

Can dogs eat sourdough bread?

Obviously, they CAN – the vast majority of dogs will try to eat just about anything they can get their mouth around. But SHOULD they?

Probably not, because an important part of baking sourdough bread is the yeast – a beneficial bacteria that helps the bread rise.

But as veterinarian Lou Ann Wolf of the Will Rogers Animal Hospital of Oologah, Oklahoma, told the Chewy blog, yeast can lead to bloating in dogs’ stomachs and intestinal tracts.

Bloat, known in medical terminology as gastric dilatation-volvuvus (GDV), causes the stomach to both fill with gas and constrict at the same time, which is extremely uncomfortable at best, possibly deadly at worst, as it can cause an array of issues including halting blood flow to important organs.

Some of the symptoms of bloat include increased agitation or drooling, rapid or shallow breathing, and excessive care or attention towards their stomach area.

Another problem with dogs eating sourdough bread comes from the chemistry aspect of it – when yeast ferments, it becomes a type of alcohol, which is what gives sourdough its distinctive properties.

And alcohol is extremely toxic to dogs, which could lead to vomiting, diarrhea or difficulty breathing. (This is why dog-friendly non-alcoholic beers and recipes exist.) If your dog ate a bite or two of cooked bread, then it shouldn’t be a problem, since most of the alcohol vaporizes while baking, but it’s still not a great idea.

How bad your dogs’ symptoms may be would depend on a variety of factors including their breed and size, how much they ate, and how healthy they are, but the bottom line is that sourdough bread should not be eaten by dogs.

If you think your dog may be suffering from bloat or alcohol poisoning, it would probably be best to contact your local vet as soon as possible.

Dogs really shouldn’t eat much bread of any kind at all, since they don’t really need as many carbohydrates as humans do, so it just registers as empty calories for the most part, which could lead to obesity issues.

For more news, opinions and everything else interesting in the world of food, see our sister sites FoodSided and Guilty Eats for the latest.