Hops and dogs

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mullstang

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I really want to try growing hops in my back yard but i just read on the midwest FAQ's that hops and dogs don't mix. i could pluck lower flowers so the dogs (they're small) can't reach them. anyone have input on this issue?
 
First, only a few breeds have a reaction to hops. Secondly, do your dog graze like cattle on the weeds or flowers in your garden? There are far more plants that are toxic to dog than plants that are safe for dogs but luckily Mother Nature built in instincts for animals. I don't worry about growing hops any more than I worry about growing Daisies.

Now, if you had hops in a pile of spent grains they would probably eat them because they are used to eating grains in their food so I would be careful about that.
 
I read about this earlier. I had been putting my spent grain on the side of the house and my Lab loves it, but not so much on the way out. I have been putting the spent grains/hops in the trash now.

I will be growing hops this spring but am not worried as she does eat leaves and other brush around the yard, but she does like tomatoes.
 
Mandatory hops will not hurt your dogs entry:

Based on the National Poison Control Center, the veterinary college at Ohio State and the combined Oregon State University High Alpha Acid breeding program and their Vet college.

Malignant Hyperthermia is a genetic disease.
 
Mandatory hops will not hurt your dogs entry:
...
Malignant Hyperthermia is a genetic disease.

Just what heck are you trying to say here???

Malignant Hyperthermia is a pharmacogenetic disorder where a triggering agent (hops) and a genetic predisposition (which nearly all dogs have) is needed to bring on symptoms. Many dog breeds are hyperthermic (an elevated blood temp) without even having MH - greyhounds come to mind. Hops can make them acutely Hyperthermic and trigger a Malignant episode.

My wife is an emergency vet and has treated dogs that have ingested hops. The smaller dog died, the other survived (both from same household that got into a pound of hops pellets).

The drug prescribed to immediately treat MH is Dantrolene - it is used in human medicine to treat the same symptoms (usually as a result of certain anesthesia). Most vets won't have it on hand and its the only thing that can treat MH.

Hops are most definitely dangerous to dogs - that includes spent hops, and it only takes a couple ounces.
 
Just what heck are you trying to say here???

Malignant Hyperthermia is a pharmacogenetic disorder where a triggering agent (hops) and a genetic predisposition (which nearly all dogs have) ...

I will agree with most of your statement, but will disagree with the statement that all dogs are predisposed to MH. Yes, several breeds ARE predisposed, including sighthounds (Afghan, greyhound, whippet, etc.).

From the VERY limited research on the subject (one article in JAVMA in 1997) and VERY small number of reported cases (under 20, I have personally only found about 7 confirmed reports)it appears to be dose dependent, sporadic, and in most cases anecdotal.

In a nutshell, do not dump a pound of hops on the ground for your dog to eat, but dont sweat the small stuff either, and just wrap your plant with some chicken wire.
 
my dog (70 lb german shepherd) likes to drink beer- and has actually drank an entire IPA before with no ill effects (except being a little drunk). I dont know about whole hops though
 
There have only been a handful of confirmed cases reported - around 9 dogs. Seven of the dogs were Greyhounds, one Labrador Retriever, an unknown breed, and most recently a Golden Retriever. 7 out of the 9 dogs died.

As a greyhound owner, I've researched this deeply. Massive amounts of many things can kill small breeds, but the only confirmation of MH is a biopsy of fresh muscle tissue. Chocolate is on the list of things dogs should avoid, but it takes approximately an ounce of dark chocolate per pound of body weight.
 
My stupid dogs eat hops shoots and leaves, by the time there's cones they are up out of the way and they dogs seem to lose interest anyway.

Fence them out for the well being of the hops. They eat the shoots which makes the vines branch into a million little ones which ruins your harvest. Ideally you want a few runners per plant for optimum quality.
 
I'd like to try growing some hops, but if I poison Benny the Beagle, I'll never hear the end of it.............
 
FWIW,

i grew hops last year (had two productive plants) and my dogs never touched them. my dogs eat ALL kinds of crap too... but not the hops.
 
I have couple small breeds, a Boston Terrier and a Yorkie. I am going to try to grow some here. I have never noticed my dogs eat vegetation so I am not real worried unless there would be some type of scent that hops produce that attracts dogs. My best spot to grow is in the back yard where the dogs run around. I do have a spot on the other side of the chain link fence so just to be somewhat safer I will plant there.

My 3 pound Yorkie ate a rat bait block once that had enough poison to kill a German Shepard and didn't bat an eye or puke once till the vet induced vomiting. She never acted ill one minute. Kind of scares me when I think about it.
 
David 42:
As i do some of my own research on this issue I have come across your posts in several threads. Here is my story:

My 65 lb, mixed breed dog is currently spending the night at the emergency vet after ingesting spent hop pellets that i was using as compost in my garden.

Last night I brewed a batch, and when i was done spread the spent hops and grains in my garden. This morning my wife got up before me and let the dog out around 9am. She left home to run errands before I got up. When I did get up I noticed the dog was lying around being a bit lethargic and panting excessively. We hadn't made it out for our walk the day before, so I figured he might need some exercise. We went for a walk and he had a BM that was a bit loose and slightly greenish. We came home and he laid back down and continued the panting. This was around 1pm.

My wife came home around 2pm and took notice of the fact that he was panting and not acting like himself. At this point she told me that he had gotten into something in the garden. I started to make the connection between his symptoms and him getting into the garden where I had just dumped the spent hops, but since he has eaten many odd things in the two years we've had him I figured it would run through his system eventually just like everything else had before.

At about 4:30-5 the panting had gotten heavier and his ears were hot. He couldn't seem to cool off, and was unable to relax. If you've had a dog you can look in their face and tell that something is wrong. I looked online and got concerned after reading about hops causing hyperthermia: the symptoms seemed to fit so we took him to the emergency vet. They called animal poison control who CONFIRMED THAT HOPS ARE TOXIC TO DOGS. It was too late to induce vomiting they told me so they would try to flush out what they could and keep him overnight.

I just got off the phone at 10pm with the vet and my dog is not out of the woods yet. They have administered an IV and catheter and are monitoring him. Temperature is still high, and heart rate is fast.

Not that its about money, but I've already spent $1200, and expect to spend more to get him through this.

Apparently some breads are more susceptible to suffering adverse effects from ingesting hops. REGARDLESS, YOU SHOULD ASSUME HOPS ARE TOXIC FOR YOUR DOG.
 
I hope your dog makes it through! Best of luck.

I've always kept mine away from the hops jsut to be safe. I don't have a yard, so I don't compost. My hops go directly into a garbage bag and that bag goes right out into the can.
 
As far as growing hops goes i would not worry 2 much. the danger is not in the bine or the leaf it will be in the cones, which should not be within eating range of ur dog while they are growing. id exercise some caution while harvesting and drying and such, but just growing is not a concern.
 
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