Warning if you compost hops and you have a dog

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SteveBeitz

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I want to get the word out on a very serious issue. If you have a dog DO NOT compost your hops, do not spread them in the yard, do not leave them out where your dog has access to them!!!

Hops are a very serious threat to dogs, I write this after just losing my 17 month old Doberman puppy who ate some hops that were in my yard after a brew day. I had no idea how deadly hops are to dogs otherwise I would have never put spent hops out in the yard. Hops can cause Malignant Hyperthermia which is essentially a very rapid rise in body temperature, in our case her temperature when from 103 - 107 in less than half an hour while we were at the vet. She then had a heart attack and died.

Please please spread the word about how dangerous hops are to dogs - this is so tragic in that it was so preventable had I only known!
 
So sorry. Are you saying you composted hops, for months along with other compost, then they still hurt your dog once spread into the yard? Just want to be clear what you mean by "compost" because you'd think it would break down the hops, since that's what composting tends to do.
 
So sorry. Are you saying you composted hops, for months along with other compost, then they still hurt your dog once spread into the yard? Just want to be clear what you mean by "compost" because you'd think it would break down the hops, since that's what composting tends to do.

They were freshly boiled hops leftover from his brew session.


OP, So sorry for your loss. Pets are like family and it's always hard losing them.
 
I composted some hops in my normal bin in a previous brew session, this time they were spent hops from the recent brew session which were in my yard - no time to break down, probably tasted sweet from the wort and she ate them.

Personally, now that I know, I wouldn't take the risk of composting hops for two reasons - first the dog could get into the compost bin and accidentally eat them, and secondly there isn't enough known about what it is about hops that causes the reaction so how are you ever to know if it's safe - chances are it is, but it's not worth the risk to me.

Chances are the dog's not going into the compost bin, but I'm being over cautious there. If you're 100% confident that your dog cant get to your spent hops then that's your choice, and I'm sure if you know to be careful you will be.
 
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