Grain-Free food with peas, potatoes and lentils linked to cardiomyopathy.
http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/fda-targets-peas-lentils-potatoes-investigation-grain-free-diets-and-dcm
I saw some of the other reports on this story over the past couple of days. The problem seems to involve some of the most popular, more boutique-y dog foods, including the one that Iāve been feeding, Taste of the Wild. Aargh.
When you start looking at all of the dog food labels, you realize how many manufacturers have taken to adding legumes to their dog foods.
The numbers/brands were ā¦ unhelpful from a data perspective. The top two āoffendersā I had never/barely heard of, but the third (TOTW) is very common. So, is the rate of incidence higher or lower in TOTW? because other than Blue, itās probably the largest seller/longest on market, so you know, x cases over 1000 animals is different than x cases over 100,000 animals.
Lies, damn lies, and statistics.
I also just loved the part where in one of the studies (UF one), they changed the dog from one BEG diet to another, and it resolved the issue. And the sheer rate of incidence in golden retrievers was staggering.
In other words, I felt just as confused after reading it as before. But confused in different ways.
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Hereās the PDF of all of the cases reported to the FDA over the last few years. It gives pretty complete information on the individual cases, although each case has been reported from the dogsā own vets, so the information isnāt presented in a standardized format, rather in terms of case notes.
Interesting reading. Itās also interesting to see the breeds of dogs involved. Many are larger dogs, which are apparently more prone to the problem anyway. They also happen to be some of the most popular breeds, like Goldens, Labs, Pit Bulls, etc.
I have a couple of Border Terriers, and while there are no Border Terriers on the list, there are quite a few other types of terriers.
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Thatās really interesting, thank you for posting this. It looks like much of this info has been submitted by owners. A surprising number of ālow in taurineā casesā¦I thought from previous articles that these guys tested WNL for taurine.
As someone who feeds Orijen and has for yeeeaaars, I really donāt know what to make of this. There are a LOT of dogs on these feeds, and 500 some odd have turned up with DCM. Some of these are cats, on raw foodā¦which seems like it should not be part of this dataset. Many of these are breeds prone to DCM and olderā¦so how much of a role did the diet play at all?
While there may be a diet/DCM connection, it sure is unclear, and this release of info doesnāt seem to really help :-/
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My immediate thoughts when I heard they are all grain free foods is that it might have something to do with potatoes, they contain solanine when not cooked properly.
However, I really wonder if this is more of a ācorrelation is not causationā issue.
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My labās breeder uses and recommends Orijen. My lab got the runs from that so we switched to California Naturals for about a year or 2. He has been on 4Health for the last 7 years or so.
All are on the list.
I havenāt decided if I want to switch to a different food or not.
We had a flat coated retriever and the 4Health dog food made such a huge improvement in her coat and that was after being on California Naturals for about 8 months.
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The FDA and veterinarians havenāt come to any conclusions over the causes of Canine DCM. These are preliminary findings; more data and research is needed. There is a science-based group which has a presence on facebook and takes in and gives out information. Its heart-breaking to see the number of deaths occurring daily. Its more heartbreaking knowing the majority of these people were spending a small fortune on their companionās diet, thinking they were providing the best food possible.
Taurine has a connection but it is not definitive in many cases. Some breeds have a genetic connection to DCM, like Golden Retrievers. Some dogs on a raw foods diet develop DCM. And of course many breeds on grain free diets do not develop DCM at all. Grain free became very popular apparently without any scientific evidence, or much in the way of testing, to support the claims. Raw foods also has become quite popular though our dogs usually only carry 1% wolf DNA and even wolves get fur, variety of muscle and organs and stomach contents with their kills. I think the Internet has been instrumental in creating floods of misinformation that people believe without verifying at the cost of the health and even the lives of the very companions they were trying to do right by 
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Oh gosh itās all garbage. Countless discussions regarding which highly processed, dehydrated, room temperature stable āfoodā is āhealthyā?
This.
If there was conclusive evidence about the link between foods and DCM it would be published that way. This is a report of the investigation. Itās not a study or a recommendation.
There does seem to be a link between food + taurine + DCM but it is not known what that link is, and/or whether there is a greater genetic component at work (as yet unknown.)
If you are feeding a grain free food and your dog is doing well on it, speak to your vet about having certain blood tests done to see if there are deficiencies. And consider whether you want to have the dogās heart examined as additional confirmation that damage is not being done.
Grain-free and raw diets are products of the internet, for sure. It doesnāt make them bad per se, but they are not necessarily better for your dog than a commercially available food. A home prepared diet (whether raw or cooked) would probably be better IF you know what you are doing (which most people do not). Itās also fairly inconvenient and more expensive, especially for people with multiple dogs.
Iām not ready to throw away my kibble, although I am pretty glad I never jumped on the grain-free bandwagon.
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Out of curiosity, what are you feeding? Iāve been looking at ingredients for a lot of kibbles (not all grain-free by any means) and have found few that donāt have legumes of some sort or another in them. Iām casting around for a new food for my dogs, so whatever suggestions you have, Iād love!
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Frankly, I think this statement applies to the current scare with these kibbles. We know very, very little and yet āgrain free food is killing your dog!!ā headlines abound.
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Well, Iām not sure. Do you think it would be better if the FDA said in a couple of years - āyeah, we knew there was a connection but we werenāt sure how direct it was. Sorry to the thousands of owners whose dogs might not have died?ā
If people donāt want to read past the sensational headlines on sketchy websites, what can we say? Lots of people are reading the followup articles from veterinarians that say not to freak out, but what to do instead. Like Dr. Jean Dodds who is saying
āWhat we suggest you do, if you are concerned, is to have your veterinarian take a blood sample to measure the methionine, cysteine and taurine levels in both whole blood and plasma, and send it to a diagnostic laboratory experienced with the appropriate reference ranges for circulating taurine. If the levels are lower than normal for dogs, please discuss the appropriate next steps with your veterinarian. As well, please send the information on your dog, including the food you are feeding, breed, health regarding CHD and retinal degradation, age and weight to the FDA no matter what the results are. You and your dog would potentially be helping millions of other dogs.ā
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Always good to research whoās funding the studies.
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@S1969 thatās a pretty reasonable response from the vet. Iāve seen others post on Facebook that if your pet is on one of the kibbles listed, to switch to something not on the list immediately.
What if we find that food isnāt the cause here? Do these kibble companies sue the FDA for slander?
This just seems like a whole lot of scare when very little is known. Perhaps because it makes a nice headline that gets a lot of clicks.
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On that FB list, and Iāve said this before, they only tout using Royal Canin, Purina, Hillās, Eukanuba and Iams - the only dog foods that meet their WSAVA guidelines. Hmm. Am I being skepticalā¦yes. When questioned about the big 5ās grain free diets, I recall something about them having to hit all markets.
That being said, I did switch to Nutro(yes not on the list, but non-GMO) with raw addedā¦once my busy life settles Iāll probably switch to a good raw based diet that includes grains and veggies. I have two Aussies
Hasnāt further research revealed that Hills and Eukanuba have become among some of the poorest quality foods out there for dogs? Back in the '90s? Sure they were good.
Remind me which ones were found to contain pentobarbitalā¦? The euthanasia drug?
I followed the FB list for a while but found their recommendations for dog foods unsettling. I used to feed acana and was happy for years. Iāve been trying to find something else that I like. I like farmina but itās hard to get and expensive. Someone bought me a large bag of the Kirkland which I am supplementing with farmina, canned dog food and some Stella freeze dried. Not going to feed my dog purina. Any recommendations?
Before everyone freaks out Iād like to point out a couple things.
- The first thing I noticed is that many of these reported deaths are in older dogs. Iād be more alarmed if the majority of the affected dogs were only a couple of years old.
- Affected dogs seemed to be eating grain free anywhere from a few months to a decade
- Echo is relatively new in veterinary medicine, and is the only way to accurately diagnose DCM, other than a necropsy. Even in humans the image quality has improved tremendously in the last 20 years.
My take home is that the FDA is still just gathering information. Correlation does not equal causation. Correlation in many of these cases may even be a stretch.
Think back on the dogs you knew over your lifetime. How many were short of breath, and coughing, or presenting with other signs of heart failure before they died? Probably a good number of them. How many had an echo? Probably none or very few.
For all we know every dog in history who died after displaying symptoms of congestive heart failure (who hasnāt had an echo or a necropsy to confirm or deny) has had DCM.
Still too many unanswered questions to go changing food in an asymptomatic, healthy dog with little to no risk factors.
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I am glad that grain free dog food is a thing.
One of my Border Collie s wheezes if thereās barley in the dog food. They all get itchy on the dog food I have used with gmo corn or soy.
More importantly, DH and I are both Celiac, meaning that we are both extremely sensitive to gluten. We have both had bad reactions to breathing dust from wheat straw. Itās nice not to have to worry about breathing dust from the kibble bag, or washing hands immediately after handling dog food, or petting the dog and getting licked.
The heart disease information? Maybe thereās something I will need to do in the future, like choose a formulation with squash instead of legumes. But for now, and with two healthy, athletic working dogs aged 10 and 6ā¦not going to change dog food.
