Daren
06-14-2003, 11:17 AM
I’m still pretty new to this list and haven’t seen anything on this topic. I searched the archives and found nothing either. Sorry if this has been discussed already.
I just wanted to let everyone know that hops can be extremely toxic to dogs, but not many people know much about this. My local homebrew shop didn’t know and the emergency vet had never heard of it. How often do dogs even have a chance to eat hops?
Hops are actually toxic to a wide range of animals including most that people keep as pets, and seem to be more toxic to dog breeds that have a low amount body fat.
It also doesn’t seem to matter either whether the hops are raw or have been cooked.
A few months ago, I lost one of my dogs because I let her eat some unused hops. She was a great dane around 110 pounds and she ate around ¼ of an ounce of hops. Within 5 hours, she was dead. It is not a calm, peaceful death either. First the dog has uncontrollable, violent diarrhea. Next the hops cause what is called malignant hyperthermia. Their body temperature starts to rise uncontrollably, as rapid as 2 degrees Farenheit in 5 minutes. They start panting heavily and dehydrate even more. Eventually their temperature gets so high they start having convulsions and eventually, they just stop breathing. From what I have read, once the fever starts, it is hard to control it even with the proper medication.
My other dane that ate even less was hospitalized for 2 days, but she was treated in time and she pulled it out.
I just wanted to share this, so no one else has to go through this experience. It is a horrible way to lose a pet.
Below are some links to sites I have found that have information regarding hops toxicity in case anyone wants more info.
http://www.linkny.com/fallbright/hop_toxicity2.htm
http://www2.uiuc.edu/ro/BUZZ/newsletters/0796.txt
http://www.ece.ogi.edu/~ericwan/DOG/hops.html
http://hullma.virtualtownhall.net/Public_Documents/HullMA_Animal/poison
http://www.petsmart.com/dog/answers/behavior/articles/article_6989.shtml
I just wanted to let everyone know that hops can be extremely toxic to dogs, but not many people know much about this. My local homebrew shop didn’t know and the emergency vet had never heard of it. How often do dogs even have a chance to eat hops?
Hops are actually toxic to a wide range of animals including most that people keep as pets, and seem to be more toxic to dog breeds that have a low amount body fat.
It also doesn’t seem to matter either whether the hops are raw or have been cooked.
A few months ago, I lost one of my dogs because I let her eat some unused hops. She was a great dane around 110 pounds and she ate around ¼ of an ounce of hops. Within 5 hours, she was dead. It is not a calm, peaceful death either. First the dog has uncontrollable, violent diarrhea. Next the hops cause what is called malignant hyperthermia. Their body temperature starts to rise uncontrollably, as rapid as 2 degrees Farenheit in 5 minutes. They start panting heavily and dehydrate even more. Eventually their temperature gets so high they start having convulsions and eventually, they just stop breathing. From what I have read, once the fever starts, it is hard to control it even with the proper medication.
My other dane that ate even less was hospitalized for 2 days, but she was treated in time and she pulled it out.
I just wanted to share this, so no one else has to go through this experience. It is a horrible way to lose a pet.
Below are some links to sites I have found that have information regarding hops toxicity in case anyone wants more info.
http://www.linkny.com/fallbright/hop_toxicity2.htm
http://www2.uiuc.edu/ro/BUZZ/newsletters/0796.txt
http://www.ece.ogi.edu/~ericwan/DOG/hops.html
http://hullma.virtualtownhall.net/Public_Documents/HullMA_Animal/poison
http://www.petsmart.com/dog/answers/behavior/articles/article_6989.shtml