The week of unleavened kibble

Here’s an explanation of why brewer’s yeast is considered chametz and why strictly observant Jews are expected to give their pets non-chametz food during Passover.

Mr Neville and I keep kosher (two sets of dishes, only kosher meat, separate sets of dishes for Passover). The Neville kitties are Jewish, too- they love getting a little bite of gefilte fish when we have it, although we don’t give them horseradish for fear of digestive upsets ;j

But the Neville kitties don’t keep kosher, and they don’t keep kosher for Passover. If someone wants to say that they should, they are welcome to provide us with kosher-for-Passover cat food (I’ve never seen any here in the Bay Area) and clean up after any episodes of cat vomiting or diarrhea that result from the change of diet.

Nice link Anne Neville. Thanks.

Thank you ** Noone Special**. As someone who spent at least 5 minutes grousing to God about how much the entire No-Meat-on-Friday thing bugged me (I want my turkey bacon for breakfast and chicken for dinner – just like every other Friday) each Friday during lent, before the Stations of the Cross, I totally understand.

Thanks, Anne–great cite! While it explains why you can’t give Charetz food to your dog, though, I’m still not sure I understand why brewer’s yeast (which lacks all leavening power) is Charetz in the first place. Is it because, by using the byproducts of a “leavening” process (I’m assuming brewing counts as leavening), you’re deriving benefit from the leavening?

Daniel

What brewer’s yeast can do depends on what stage you get it at. As a byproduct of beer making, it’s the sludge found at the bottom of the fermentation tank, but at that point it is still more than capable of fermenting other products. (Many homebrewers will take some of this yeast, which they originally bought in a shop, and culture it to allow them to use it for another batch, thus cutting down on their beer-making costs.) I assume that for commercial use, it’s cooked/steamed/whatever to kill the yeast and avoid this issue.

I suspect, therefore, that it’s not allowed either because it’s a byproduct of fermentation/leavening - and beer yeast is the same species as bread yeast, just different strains - or because in the case of other foods that are chametz, cooking them does not render them non-chametz.

That’s nothing. My dog once ate a door.

Well, perhaps ‘ate’ is an overstatement. ‘Gnawed his way through’ would be more accurate. Our (now ex-)dogsitter decided to leave the house early and leave our dog in the garage, without checking that we would be delayed 24 hours due to plane troubles. So, my dog simply chewed through the door connecting the garage to the house, and lived on toilet water until we returned.

Here’s the best explanation I could find on why brewer’s yeast is chametz. Basically, it seems to be because brewer’s yeast is derived from barley that has been in contact with water for more than 18 minutes.

A dog belonging to a friend of mine once ate some insulation. She also ate part of a glove.

My dog once ate a tube of glitter. You have never seen such sparkly shit in your life.

Thanks, Anne, for the further information! The intricacies of kosher law blow my mind.

Daniel

One friend’s dog ate a women’s bathing suit. It came out the other end pretty much intact.

Another friend’s dog ate an entire package of glitter crayons. That also made for interesting droppings.

As far as the OP, maybe you can convince him that certain areas of the house actually belong to you, so that you can both have some peace? Or seriously, him moving out for the time in question would seem way more fair than imposing this stuff on you.

You’re a much more patient woman than I - I would probably have hit my husband on the head and sent him to some deprogrammers.

I know a dog that ate a box of white erasers. Nobody knew until the evidence, well, emerged. This is a yellow lab, and I’ve also seen him drink out of the gutters in the French Quarter and be completely unharmed. He must have innards of iron!

snort I can beat that-my uncle’s dog once ate an entire saw blade.

Cement + sand + gravel + water = concrete. Cement isn’t usually used by itself because it’s not as strong.

umm… just for clarity… Veterenarian? Vegetarian? Vegan? Velocipede? What?

vetbridge is definitely a veterinarian; I have no idea if he’s a velocipede.

Daniel