What animal was the Salem witch cake fed to in 1692?

The Salem witch cake was fed to a dog in 1692. The cake was made from rye meal and the urine of the afflicted girls, then given to the animal as part of an attempt to identify the person supposedly bewitching them.

Mary Sibley, a neighbor of the Parris family, directed John Indian to prepare the cake. The ritual drew on English folk-magic ideas: an animal consuming material connected with the afflicted might reveal or harm the suspected witch. The episode occurred during the earliest outbreak of accusations in Salem Village.

Accounts differ slightly on the date, placing the event around February 25 or March 8, and some later retellings blur the roles of Tituba and John Indian. The animal itself is not in serious dispute. The dog was not accused of witchcraft; it was used as a supposed diagnostic tool. Reverend Samuel Parris later condemned the practice as seeking help from the Devil to fight the Devil.