# Hops Nearly Killed My Dog!



## strakes (7/10/09)

Hops nearly killed my dog .... or so it would seem. After I did a search in the forum, I see the subject has been canvassed before in others discussions, but there appears to still be some doubters, so here is a recent personal story in an effort to let people know that hops can kill dogs.

On Sunday night my wife noticed our adopted greyhound Indy was panting excessively; indeed, not just excessively, but really heaving. We decided to fork out the money for an afterhours vet visit to see if it was anything major. Her temperature was 40.5 C and the vet thought it was likely to be an acute infection and put her on antibiotics, anti inflammatories and IV fluids.

The next morning Indy hadn't improved, still panting madly and when she urinated it was dark brown which, after testing, turned out to be myoglobin in her urine caused by muscle breakdown.

When the myoglobin/ muscle break down was discovered the vet then though it was likely to be snakebite and we had the $378 venom test done only to come up with a negative result.

To cut a long and expensive story of a million failed tests short, it took one of my wife's mates to remember she had heard something about homebrew residue killing dogs, after which we searched the internet and found out how similar our dog's symptoms were to dogs who had suffered from hops toxicity.

We relayed this to the specialist vet hospital Indy had been transferred to and they concluded it was the most likely reason for her near death experience.

None of the many vets consulted about Indy's symptoms had heard of hops toxicity and the only veterinary medical literature about it the specialist clinic could track down was an article in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association Vol 210, No.1 Jan 1, 1997.

It appears the only reason Indy survived was she could have only had access to a very small amount of hops. I had thrown the spent hops from a brew on Friday night into the bin, but after close inspection after the "dog nearly dying" incident there was a small amount that hadn't quite fallen into the bin. This would have been a couple grams or less. 

The AVAMA journal article followed the five cases which had been recorded in the US at the time, of which four had died. The only one to have survived had intensive treatment to remove the toxic hops and then for secondary metabolic acidosis.

I guess since the purpose of this post is a "beware for dog owners", the basics of hops toxicity seem to be that it causes a reaction which is like malignant hyperthermia. 

The way it shows itself is severe panting, a rapidly rising temperature followed by brown coloured urine. It also seems that some dogs are more susceptible than others, in the AVMA article four of the five cases were greyhounds, the other was a Labrador.

The surviving greyhound from the journal article had its stomach lavaged and an enema administered to rid it of the hops. It was then given activated charcoal slurry to mop up the rest. Then, when it showed signs of metabolic acidosis it was given "60 mEq sodium bicarbonate administered in 1 L isotonic saline solution."

If your dog is panting madly, has a high temperature and is peeing brown, make sure your vet knows that hops toxicity exists.

I guess the moral of the story is BE CAREFUL WITH HOPS. I'm glad Indy is on the mend (still an ulcerated tongue and lethargic) but $2000 worth of vet bills could have bought a lot of hops, or grain, or stainless steel ..........


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## raven19 (7/10/09)

Glad your greyhound pulled through!

Worthy of note this post.


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## davewaldo (7/10/09)

Thanks for sharing. Just this weekend my brew buddy tipped our spent hops into the garden. I'm glad I remembered reading about hop toxicity to dogs on this forum. I have a new puppy and it could have been bad news for him.

Needless to say I got him to rat around and pick them all out of the garden 

I'm glad your dog is on the mend, its a shame it took the vets so long to figure it out.

cheers

Dave.


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## Guest Lurker (7/10/09)

Wow, unlucky, reputedly Greyhounds are the breed worst affected by hops, I remember seeing stats in which they are highly represented in hop poisoning.


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## Effect (7/10/09)

yeah, I am always really careful when it comes to hops and my puppy...I'm actually quite worried that he is going to get some one day


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## avaneyk (8/10/09)

Phillip said:


> yeah, I am always really careful when it comes to hops and my puppy...I'm actually quite worried that he is going to get some one day



Me too - especially since my dog will chew on anything new and interesting he finds laying about... my trub always goes down the sewer cos I just can't trust him - his latest trick is to get into the kitchen bin and chew on plastic wrappers. We're taking him to training but its damn hard to stop him doing things that he thinks are fun - no matter how stupid they seem to us <_<


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## Paul H (8/10/09)

Glad your Dog is on the mend, they weren't chinese hops by chance were they?  

Cheers

Paul


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## t2000kw (8/10/09)

Greyhounds are particularly susceptible to hop poisoning, as well as toxicity from other things since they have somewhat smaller livers than most other dogs. 

Not that hops aren't toxic to other dog breeds, just that it will hit a greyhound harder than many other breeds. 

I always kept my spent hops away from my greyhound.


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## Fourstar (8/10/09)

I always forget but i should advise my folks to keep an eye on their lab as they have my cluster rhizome. 

Its in the fenced off pool area but the plan was to move it out to another area. If thats the case will have to keep them on high alert.


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## staggalee (8/10/09)

I allways gave this bloke the yeasty/malty residue from the bottom of the bottle when I poured it.
He thrived on it when he was a pup, only a bottle top full now and then tho, not big amounts.
He`s 15+ now.

stagga.


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## Dave70 (8/10/09)

Thanks for the heads up. I normaly just clean my kettle out on the lawn and my Lab likes to lickup the dregs. I think he's got some goat or pig in his gene pool though.
Poor old greyhounds. My parents has raised / raced / kept them as pets since I was a boy. They arent the most hearty or long-lived of breeds sadly.


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## afromaiko (8/10/09)

What a terrible experience, and something for us with dogs to be really careful of.

Spent hops would be attractive being that they would have picked up the sweet, malty flavour from the boil.


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## strakes (8/10/09)

Paul H said:


> Glad your Dog is on the mend, they weren't chinese hops by chance were they?
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Paul




No, good old Aussie POR - but the irony is the vet hospital she ended up in (Veterinary Specialist Services Underwood) is only a couple hundred metres from the source of the hops .... CraftBrewer (both about 45 minutes drive from our place) :huh:


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## drsmurto (8/10/09)

So am i under any obligation to plug the hole in the fence that my neighbours dog has made that leads directly to my hop garden........ 

Or should i continue to throw the trub from the kettle right next to said hole.

Is that what they call a moral dilemma? <_<


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## mookiedoi (11/10/09)

thanks! thats some important information.. amazing story glad it turned out ok


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## Wisey (12/10/09)

Hahaha DrS I know what you mean.

My dog ate a rat bait once, That knocked him around.


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## Polar Beer (12/10/09)

Does anyone know if there is any info around on other animals that could suffer from ingesting hops?

I feed my chooks everything. Certainly they have had some hop goo at some stage. They seem OK.


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## brenjak (13/10/09)

Glad to hear Indy pulled through. I had no idea that hops could do that and until isaw this was ignorant. I have two kelpies and will be careful in the future as i swear they will eat anything put in front of them or anything they find.


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## drsmurto (14/10/09)

Biergeliebter said:


> Glad to hear Indy pulled through. I had no idea that hops could do that and until isaw this was ignorant. I have two kelpies and will be careful in the future as i swear they will eat anything put in front of them or anything they find.



My neighbours dog that gets into my hop garden is a kelpie. Damn near stood on a present it had left me right next to the goldings plant last night. <_< 

Farked if I know how its still getting into my yard, I have patched up every hole in the fence i can find. Other than letting my neighbour know I am growing hops (and the consequences of a dog eating them) so he then can make a slightly more than half arsed attempt to help me stop his dog getting into my yard I don't know what else i should be doing. I guess the fun will start once the cones start forming.

Is it bad form to spray your hop plants in meat juice................


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## .DJ. (14/10/09)

im gonna grow hops just so my neighbors dog can eat them when she decides to visit! Damn little yappy Jack Russell!


_"No dear, they arent for brewing!"_


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## Ivan Other One (14/10/09)

Threw the dregs of the fermenter including a Saaz hops T'bag out into a tray and my two dogs drank some of the dregs,
one actually picked up the T'bag, bit into it an then dropped it straight away. Didn't affect him at all and they do get about a pot glass of beer between them each week.
Mongrel breeds, they're as tough as nails.


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## kfahy (14/10/09)

Is there any difference in the toxicity of the hops after they have been boiled as opposed to fresh ones? 

I'm sure my pups have had a few stray hop petals after they have been used to dry hop, but i am more worried about the 5 hop plants i have growing throughout my yard.

No doubt best to keep them away from everything, i might have to rethink my planting stragegy


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## .DJ. (14/10/09)

the problem with this is that not may people/vets know anything about it since I guess the hop plant is quite rare in australia...

especially fresh V pellets and used V unused...

Anyone know a Vet who can investigate?


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## Northside Novice (29/1/11)

any one had any recent dog V's hop problems?

This sounds like a problem that any dog owner and hop grower/brewer doesnt need !!

am thinking of pulling my hops or at least moving to dog free areas :/


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## haysie (29/1/11)

northside novice said:


> any one had any recent dog V's hop problems?
> 
> This sounds like a problem that any dog owner and hop grower/brewer doesnt need !!
> 
> am thinking of pulling my hops or at least moving to dog free areas :/



Great looking heelers! I have a very boisterous new lab x std poodle, chews branches off my almond trees, the wifes beloved jacaranda, pulled out a 10 year old camelia, but does not go anywhere near the hops. Even when I throw the hot break n trub on the lawn, not one bit interested and I am ta;lking a dog that would eat cat shit before the dirt was wiped off it.
I did observe for a while and was concerned but I figure something/anything would have to be mighty hungry to eat a hop. Horses for courses of course. Those greyhounds liking them make me think of betting scandal


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## katzke (29/1/11)

I have read a bit about this.

It is not the hops that they like, it is the wort on the hops.

Never have seen anything about dogs eating hops off the vine. Live next to one of the big hop producing areas in the USA.

Not to say some dog will not eat hops off the vine or even go so far as to open your freezer and tear into your stash. Just that most dogs are not into eating hops. Also sight hounds and some other skinny breads seem to be the most susceptible. Labs as mentioned and I guess any stupid dog that will eat any kind of garbage. Lucky that most stupid dogs are fat mutts and seem to be less likely to have problems.

That dog on the back of the truck must be real old. I thought you outlawed docking tails?


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## Screwtop (29/1/11)

Our dog nearly died of Marihuana poisoning in 2001, took the vet a while to find info on treating him, he checked with vets from a nearby town where they see a bit of it. A nearly lethal dose of Valium was administered, touch and go for two days but he pulled through. He never was the same afterwards, poor bugger, cancer got him in 2007. Bet the kid never hid his baggie in that spot again :lol:

Same plant family, be interesting to see if the same treatment is required.

Screwy


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## Reman (2/3/16)

Resurrecting this one in case anyone doesn't know.
http://beersmith.com/blog/2015/09/24/hops-and-dogs-a-lethal-combination/


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