Posted Sun Jan 9, 2005, 9:20pm Subject: Dog ever eat your green beans?
I thought this forum might be the best place to ask... A few months back I joked that I could put green coffee beans through my labrador and sell them as simulated kopi luwack, if they fetched $700 a lb. As fate would have it my lab actually got up on the table and ate 1/2 cup of greens this evening. She often picks up the occasional stray bean that falls on the deck, but this was a lot.
The vet and I agreed that the safest course was to have her bring them all back up. It was easy, and she seems fine (if not a bit ticked about it), but was it necessary? We couldn't find much info anywhere, other than coffee is bad and toxic. I could just as easily believe that the beans would pass without any ill effect on the dog.
Has anyone heard of a dog dying from eating green coffee beans? The beans were Harrar if anyone is interested... ;-)
Dying? Nope, but it wouldn't surprise me if they ate a ton of green/roasted beans. Sounds like you acted on the side of safety, which was smart of course.
I roast in-doors, though, and I do know that my dog (at left) *loves* to eat chaff. She'll ignore either fully or partially roasted beans, but LOVES to lick the occasional flake of chaff that falls to the floor.
She's a crack-head anyway, so I don't think I'd notice any difference of behavior (except for an upset stomach, which I don't see). I doubt that even eating a bowl of chaff would do much to her (or me for that matter), except for an upset stomach.
Posted Mon Jan 10, 2005, 10:05pm Subject: Re: Dog ever eat your green beans?
Check out this interesting article I found....may be of interest to you! Just search for "cocoa" and there's an article that explains the dangers of cocoa bean mulch to dogs (apparently the same substances exist in both coffee beans and chocolate beans that can harm animals: namely, methylxanthines theobromine and caffeine) . It's interesting that the effects in animals are widely varied... may explain your dog's lack of reaction!
caffeinatedjen Senior Member Joined: 28 Dec 2004 Posts: 184 Location: michigan Expertise: I love coffee
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Posted Tue Jan 11, 2005, 12:18pm Subject: Re: Dog ever eat your green beans?
I would hate to see my dogs after having all that caffeine-they are hyper enough as it is. Yes, the sensitivity to chocolate varies between dogs. One time, my boxer managed to get three large chocolate truffles from the counter, and had no ill effects at all. There was an interesting discussion about cocoa bean mulch and dogs on the garden web forums, and someone there said that the manufacturer processed them to remove the offending chemical.
Posted Thu Jan 13, 2005, 3:49pm Subject: Re: Dog ever eat your green beans?
Thanks for the link - and I'll follow-up the cocoa bean mulch stuff too.
Even if we knew how much caffeine is toxic, I wonder how much is absorbable from green beans. If they pass through a civet, they might pass through a dog "untouched". At least I know this dog is goofy enough to eat them, so we'll save all the experimenting for someone else now. With the boom in home roasting I doubt it will be long before someone else has the same question...
Posted Fri Jan 14, 2005, 11:38am Subject: Re: Dog ever eat your green beans?
That reminds me of the bit from Up in Smoke. "Mostly Maui Waui man, but it's got some Labrador in it. ... Yeah, my dog ate my stash, man. ... Then I had to follow him around with a little baggie for three days, man, before I got it back. Really blew the dog's mind, ya know?"
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