A doctor's life: Sacrifice

A mother with much concern written all over her face came one afternoon with her 10-month old baby. The boy was fine, robust and playful and I wondered what could be the matter. The mother said that she wanted her child to be examined, because she feared that he could have eaten some of the porridge that she made earlier.

According to the mother, her afternoon ritual was to cook some rice with an extra amount of water and a spoonful of white sugar, and this would be the kid's mid-afternoon meal as soon as the "lugaw" was cool enough to eat. While she was fanning the bowl of porridge she accidentally hit it with the piece of cardboard that she was using as a fan and it spilled on the floor. Her dog which was nearby immediately lapped up the porridge, but in a minute's time began to froth in the mouth, convulsed and then died. Apparently there was something in the food that killed the dog, and on scrutiny it was discovered that she used "Ajinomoto vetsin" (MSG) instead of sugar since they were identical in appearance.

I assured her that since more than 20 - 30 minutes had passed from the time that she spilled the porridge, apparently the baby wasn't able to taste it or he could have manifested the signs of poisoning even before the dog. The mom was silent for a long time trying to assess the whole scene and then she realized that her beloved pooch saved her baby's life even in death.

What if the porridge didn't spill on the floor and wasn't eaten by the dog?