Dogs & Hops

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Shonuff

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I know, I know another dogs and hops thread.

I'm moving and I had about 5 lbs of hops to ship to my best friend so he could throw it in his freezer while I drove across the country.

The #(*$*%& UPS guy put the package in the back yard where my friend had two large labs. It didn't take the dogs long to eat the box and eat the hops (all the hops were individually sealed in 1 oz packages). His wife called me freaking out because she called the vet and the vet told her that hops were toxic to dogs. She wasn't sure how much they ate but she said there were quite a few empty packages.

I kept calling all night to make sure the dogs were okay and they kept taking the dogs temp. Nothing happened and the dogs are stll fine.

Stupid UPS guy. Now I wonder if there is any truth to the dogs and hops debate.
 
Coming from a (soon) veterinarian who has discussed this topic with many veterinary toxicologists due to the frequency of the issue popping up, you pretty much did the right thing. Hops have been indicated to be a trigger for a genetically predisposed condition of malignant hyperthermia. There are many triggers that set off the condition, but bottom line comes down to the dog must be predisposed before an issue arises.

Because it is a serious condition when it does happen, the current recommendations are to induce emesis, and monitor body temperature so IF MH rears its ugly head, treatment can be begun.

However, hops induced MH is pretty flipin rare (a VERY small handful of cases reported in the last 10 years) so odds are you have nothing to worry about when/if your dog gets into hops. At the same time, you could win the lottery this week and it could happen to you, so monitoring the patient after ingestion is still recommended.
 
whats emesis?


Out of curiosity, what is the treatment when this condition does happen? I am under the notion the dog's body temp will not stop rising so do you put them in like an ice bath until it stops or is there some type of drug that lowers the body temp? I am not trying to DIY or anything, just bored at work.
 
It's one of those things that is possible apparently but not as common as everyone thinks. I'd say that if the dogs appear fine a day after the incident they will make it, and that since Michael Vick is getting out, he can fight the dogs for you and earn back the money lost on 5# of hops. (That was totally a joke, I'm glad the dogs are OK).
 
whats emesis?


Out of curiosity, what is the treatment when this condition does happen? I am under the notion the dog's body temp will not stop rising so do you put them in like an ice bath until it stops or is there some type of drug that lowers the body temp? I am not trying to DIY or anything, just bored at work.


Yeah, emisis is just a fancy word for making them throw up :D

The standard treatment right now is intense supportive care and a drug called Dantrolene. The problem is that almost no vets have dantrolene because it is incredibly expensive and rarely used. There is some talk going around about another more common drug helping, but there has been nothing published about it, and very little to back up its use other than here-say.
 
Now, if your pigs ate your hops I'd be more concerned. Swine are much more likely to have the mutation that is linked to malignant hyperthermia. Worse case: Bacon!
 
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