Tip for new bewers with pets.

I'm sure this has been stated here before but i wanted to post a reminder for newcombers. Do NOT feed your pets hops. They WILL KILL your pet.
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Poisonous and / or
Dangerous Foods for Dogs
When in Doubt - Leave it Out

(Alphabetical Order)



HOPS




If any of you are home brewers, you'll know that hops is a plant used in the making of beer.

What you may not be aware of, though, is how toxic hops can be for dogs. Ingestion is extremely serious and the consequences can be fatal.
Hops toxicity can occur both before, and after the hops has been used in brewing. Dogs particularly like hops soaked in sweet wort.

Greyhounds appear to be particularly sensitive to hops poisoning, but ALL dogs should be kept away from hops at ALL times.

IMPORTANT: Rush your pooch to the vet to induce vomiting and provide after care monitoring. You may find that your vet is unfamiliar with hop toxicity. If necessary, contact an Animal Poison Control Center while at your vet, so they can offer professional advice to your vet.
Time is of the essence!
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS

Ingestion of hops causes malignant hyperthermia in dogs. Carbon dioxide levels in the blood increase at a dramatic rate, and your dog will run an uncontrollable fever

The symptoms of dog poisoning you will likely observe, will be heavy panting and rapid heartbeat (up to 200 beats per minute). Temperatures may rise as quickly as 2 degrees Fahrenheit every five minutes! In some case studies, the dogs' temperatures have reached 108 degrees, at which point death has occurred.

HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?

Even small amounts of hops can trigger a reaction. Greyhounds and Labradors appear to be more susceptible to hop toxicity.

Pellet hop ingestion may possibly be slightly less harmful than whole or plug hop ingestion, but all forms can be fatal.

WHY ARE HOPS PLANTS POISONOUS FOODS FOR DOGS?

Hops plants are extremely dangerous foods for dogs as poisoning occurs leading to malignant hyperthermia. Temperatures rise uncontrollably, and at alarming rates. Carbon dioxide levels in the blood also increase at a dramatic rate.

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http://www.dogfoodscoop.com/dangerous-foods-for-dogs.html
(list of other dangerous foods to keep away from your pets)

Go right ahead and feed your pet leftover barley (i mix em with flour/peanut butter and make dog cookies) but NEVER let your pet eat your hops.
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Paps

I've seen and read about this in several places. Good to know.
However, one of my dogs loves beer. I have known a few other dogs that also like beer and neither they nor my dog have ever had any adverse effects from it.
Note: my dog won't get drunk (won't let him) but he loves the taste and aroma.
This all leads me to believe that it may not be harmful to them once in the finished beer, but I am curious to read more about it.

I had a rott that would drink all the beer he could get, died at 14 years old.

Got a horse now that's the same way. He has learned to pick a bottle up, shotgun it, and set it back almost directly back where it was when he thinks you ain't looking. Really gotta watch where you sit your bottle if you plan on finishing it.

From what I have seen it is raw hops, once boiled it isn't as much of an issue. And with raw hops, not all dogs have issues, but if they do, unless caught and treated almost immediately there isn't much that can be done. Worth being extra careful

neo71665 said:

I had a rott that would drink all the beer he could get, died at 14 years old.

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My rotties love beer too! My first rott lived 14 years and was the best dog I ever had.....sure miss 'em.

Boiled hops will kill your pet too.
The idea is to not let your dog eat your hops
either before or after you make beer with them.
Feeding your dog beer for some reason does not have the same effect.
Although too much beer can surely be harmfull to your dog(or you).
Stay safe and keep your hops out of reach of your dogs.

I lost my dog to cancer last November and I'm still having a hard time getting over it. She was my constant companion and I miss her every day. So, I can imagine how it would feel to have a dog die from hop poisoning.

Interestingly enough, the owners of a LHBS have two or three Golden Retrievers that they bring to the shop every day. The dogs have the run of the store. It doesn't seem they're kept away from the area where hops are stored and packaged. These people have written a couple of homebrew books, so it's strange that they might not be aware of the poisoning risk hops present to their dogs.

Hi,
While I think its very important to be cautious and informed, the actual incidence of hop toxicosis is very rare (thankfully). I've been a veterinarian for 14 years, with the majority of the last 10 spent in emergency practice, and have yet to come across a suspected case. (This has been in the UK though, and I believe home brewing is more popular in the US).
Not saying there isn't a risk, and definitely keeping all forms of hops away from your dogs is an excellent idea, just wanted to chime in with my experiences as I didn't want folk to be worrying too much!

Neoprene said:

Hi,
While I think its very important to be cautious and informed, the actual incidence of hop toxicosis is very rare (thankfully). I've been a veterinarian for 14 years, with the majority of the last 10 spent in emergency practice, and have yet to come across a suspected case. (This has been in the UK though, and I believe home brewing is more popular in the US).
Not saying there isn't a risk, and definitely keeping all forms of hops away from your dogs is an excellent idea, just wanted to chime in with my experiences as I didn't want folk to be worrying too much!

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I'd rather err on the side of caution and just keep my dogs away from my hops while I'm brewing...

MMJfan said:

I'd rather err on the side of caution and just keep my dogs away from my hops while I'm brewing...

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Absolutely, and also take care when composting etc after brewing.
The risk is very small though, but there is not a great deal of info in current veterinary literature, so I think a healthy dose of caution is sensible.

Ps mmj are awesome

There's a rather extensive thread on the subject for anyone who really wants to beat this issue to death.

Chocolate will also kill (MLD50 of 30 lbs for my Newf last time I calculated it) your dog as will a whole long list of other things. It's a wonder any of them survive puppyhood. I wouldn't supplement my dogs' chow with my spent hops but then I wouldn't lie awake at night worrying they might get into the stuff I've thrown out. I dumped lots of spent hops in the garden and had several dogs none of whom have shown the slightest interest in them.

Neoprene said:

Ps mmj are awesome

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That they are! Best live band going today if you ask me.

MMJfan said:

That they are! Best live band going today if you ask me.

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Sadly I don't think they will tour in my neck of the woods You are one lucky bugger if you've seen them in concert!

And re chocolate poisoning, I agree this is a much bigger issue as it will affect any dog if they eat enough cocoa solids whereas only a small subset of the canine population appears to be susceptible to hops.

Neoprene said:

And re chocolate poisoning, I agree this is a much bigger issue as it will affect any dog if they eat enough cocoa solids whereas only a small subset of the canine population appears to be susceptible to hops.

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True, theobromine poisoning seems more likely. Generally, the less refined the chocolate, the more theobromine content. A chunk of unsweetened baker's chocolate could be toxic to even a big dog.

With anything like that, it's just common sense. Take the same storage precautions you'd use for other household chemicals.

Neoprene said:

Sadly I don't think they will tour in my neck of the woods You are one lucky bugger if you've seen them in concert!

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They did make it over to the UK last summer I thought, or maybe it was their Circuital tour the summer before that? I think they played Manchester and London IIRC? They do make it across the pond every now and again.

As for myself, I've seen them about 15 times and counting including a couple of hometown shows in Louisville! I just can't get enough of seeing them live! :fro:

MMJfan said:

They did make it over to the UK last summer I thought, or maybe it was their Circuital tour the summer before that? I think they played Manchester and London IIRC? They do make it across the pond every now and again.

As for myself, I've seen them about 15 times and counting including a couple of hometown shows in Louisville! I just can't get enough of seeing them live! :fro:

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I live in a small fishing village in rural Scotland, no one good tours here ha ha! But I will keep an eye out to see if they are touring again as it would be worth the trip to the big city!

Someone at the LHBS told me that the liquid malt extract is good for cats with hairball problems.

@ the vet tech that posted earlier.
sure there may not be a lot of cases of hop poisoning but how many people EVER have hops laying around? With homebrewers being the exception.....NONE.
But sinse many homebrewers do have some sort of hops about i posted to warn people about how it could be bad for their puppies. Similar to how onions are bad for dogs,some people just don't know about it,so i'm hoping to better inform people for the sake of their pets.

This is why my spent grains go in the compost pile and spent hops go in the garbage. I don't have a dog, but all of my neighbors do. One in particular likes the spent grains, so I don't dare dump the hops in the compost.

Paps, thanks for posting this up. :rockin:

This is a good reminder for everyone and admittedly up until last year I would not have even known this so I am guessing there are countless others that will benefit from the knowledge that hops are not good for their dogs. I hope you aren't feeling slighted by what Neoprene had to say because he actually brought some good perspective to this conversation. What Neoprene was simply stating was that based on the population as a whole, malignant hyperthermia brought on by hops ingestion is going to be an extremely rare event. Now when considering just the population of homebrewers, well then the risk goes up significantly and hops toxicosis could be seen as problematic. It is good that every homebrewer be knowledgeable of the problems that hops can potentially cause in their dogs since I can guarantee that most veterinarians aren't going to be aware of the effects of hops since there is a laundry list of other things that will bring on similar symptoms. So here is your chance to help your vet with a diagnosis if you happen to be a homebrewer and take your dog in with problems you suspect are from hops.

My wife is a vet and I get a first hand glimpse of the sorts of cases that she gets on a daily basis and I doubt she will ever see a case of malignant hyperthermia due to hops ingestion unless it is from our dog. Lots of other household things which are much more commonly going to be left laying around on a counter for a dog to get are a much bigger health risk to your dog before hops are. Prescription/non-prescription human medications are a big one. Chocolate is the another big one, but I even have to scratch my head on this one sometimes since I have witnessed a lot of dogs who have eaten amounts that should have been lethal with no effect at all; my own dog included. Grapes are another thing that is bad and can cause kidney failure (note: I fed my dog grapes for years before being told they are bad for our canine friends so once again I dodged a bullet).

I think the message here is to be cautious with your dogs. Treat them like little kids. If you leave it out within reach they will get into it, especially if they are an orally fixated breed like labrador/golden retrievers which seem to be the hugest offenders of consuming things that they shouldn't (balls, fish hooks, GI Joes, sticks, towels, etc.....).

Indianhead_Brewer said:

Grapes are another thing that is bad and can cause kidney failure (note: I fed my dog grapes for years before being told they are bad for our canine friends so once again I dodged a bullet).

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I never knew this about grapes being bad for dogs. Neither of my dogs likes grapes so I guess I don't have to worry about that one though...

Speaking of hops and dogs, I had a bit of a scare over the weekend. My girls like to help me on brewday by adding hops at the various hop additions. Well, one of my daughters is notoriously clumsy and when I handed her the oz of hops to add to my boil, she dropped them all over my deck. Luckily my dogs weren't close by and I got the hops picked up before they caught on to what was going on. And another lucky thing is we have an outside rug which is where she dumped them so they were easy to pick up and none fell thru any cracks under my deck...

janelf said:

Someone at the LHBS told me that the liquid malt extract is good for cats with hairball problems.

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I could see this as being true. LME is very similar to that sticky gooey hairball stuff they sell in the tube that you rub on your cat's paws.

Thanks for posting that Indianhead. I've emailed a national veterinary poisons service here in the UK for any up to date information I can share with the forums, but they haven't replied yet...
Indeed, there are many many things that can poison your pet and awareness is very important, but my reason for posting in this thread (and the others like it) is so that people aren't worrying too much about having hops in the house and potentially quitting a great hobby based on this. Obviously folks need to be informed of the potential risk in the first place, but I felt it was important to put that risk in some sort of broader context. Clearly I wouldn't want anyone to expose their pet to any danger, so avoidance is going to be the best policy.

Have a great brewing week!

Neoprene said:

Thanks for posting that Indianhead. I've emailed a national veterinary poisons service here in the UK for any up to date information I can share with the forums, but they haven't replied yet...
Indeed, there are many many things that can poison your pet and awareness is very important, but my reason for posting in this thread (and the others like it) is so that people aren't worrying too much about having hops in the house and potentially quitting a great hobby based on this. Obviously folks need to be informed of the potential risk in the first place, but I felt it was important to put that risk in some sort of broader context. Clearly I wouldn't want anyone to expose their pet to any danger, so avoidance is going to be the best policy.

Have a great brewing week!

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The main issue with hops is that if your dog is sensitive to hops, you probably won't know it until it's too late

JeepDiver said:

The main issue with hops is that if your dog is sensitive to hops, you probably won't know it until it's too late

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That's why it's best just to err on the side of caution. I'm just going to assume that my dogs are going to react badly to the hops if they ingest them so I'll do my best to keep the hops away from them...

noticed that I really am not that concerned when it comes to hazards to my own health, such as chemicals leaching from plastic

but I freak out when sh*t might be hazardous to my dog's health

That's why it's best just to err on the side of caution. I'm just going to assume that my dogs are going to react badly to the hops if they ingest them so I'll do my best to keep the hops away from them...

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This is a good attitude to take with this situation. No one ever wants to find out the hard way if their dog has a reaction to anything. Like I said before if everyone treated their dogs like we treat toddlers then a lot of poisonings would not happen. At least dogs don't have an opposable thumb because if they did we would probably have more dogs sticking forks in electrical sockets.

noticed that I really am not that concerned when it comes to hazards to my own health, such as chemicals leaching from plastic but I freak out when sh*t might be hazardous to my dog's health

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Isn't that the truth. Let us know when you grow another appendage due to all the "insert chemical of your choice here" that you have ingested. Having an extra arm might be like having an assistant brewer....you can add your grist while stirring mash.

Indianhead_Brewer said:

Isn't that the truth. Let us know when you grow another appendage due to all the "insert chemical of your choice here" that you have ingested. Having an extra arm might be like having an assistant brewer....you can add your grist while stirring mash.

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exposed to more hazardous crap during my time in the Navy, no extraneous appendages from that