Heart disease affects about 10-15% of all cats and dogs. Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a genetic heart condition in dogs, typically larger breeds like Doberman Pinscher, Great Dane, or the Irish Wolfhound. It is also seen in Cocker Spaniels associated with taurine deficiency but I’ll get to taurine in a bit. Interestingly, the FDA has seen a bias in reporting of DCM in Golden Retrievers and they believe it’s due to breed specific social media groups that have raised awareness of DCM. DCM presents slowly and its presentation is similar to congestive heart failure (CHF). DCM can actually become CHF.
Is grain-free diet the cause of DCM in atypical breeds? It’s not clear. The FDA is studying the situation. You can read more from their latest announcement. In some cases, blood tests have shown low levels of taurine and a change of diet combine with taurine supplements have reversed DCM in atypical breeds. Again, it’s not clear if the grain-free diets are causing DCM simply because there is low levels of taurine or if it has something to do with specific ingredients found in grain-free dog food, e.g., peas and legumes. Tufts University wrote a good introduction/summary of DCM and grain-free food.
So what is taurine and what’s the big deal? Taurine is an amino acid. Amino acids are the building blocks for proteins. Both humans and dogs can make taurine from methionine (an essential amino acid) and cysteine (a nonessential amino acid). As a refresher, essential amino acids are required in our diets. We cannot produced them. Conversely, nonessential amino acids are produced in our bodies. There are 20 amino acids (9 are essential) that are common in proteins. Taurine isn’t one of them. So what’s the fuss? Again, it isn’t clear what is going on with DCM, grain-free diets, and taurine. The FDA is still investigating.
What should you do? As always, try to educate yourself as much as possible. Chicken and turkey are high in taurine, especially dark meat. Perhaps rotating your pet’s diet will help while the research continues. Another thing you can do is learn to read dog food labels. You should be familiar with the AAFCO nutrient profile. Don’t worry about which ingredient is first, second, etc. Base your pet’s diet on facts and science. Talking to your vet, especially a veterinary nutritionist, is a lot more sensible than misguided advice on the Internet or word-of-mouth.
When we first got our dog (she’s a rescue), she had diarrhea. The vet said she had worms so we de-wormed her. Anytime a dog has digestive problems, we always switch to a bland diet: rice, pumpkin, and a little chicken meat. Every time we put Ana back on her puppy food, she got diarrhea again. We knew she was worm free, so we figured it might be the food. It was a reputable brand. We stumbled on the Dog Food Advisor website and figured out that Ana is allergic to corn meal. So we learned to read labels for exotic and/or questionable ingredients. Dog Food Advisor listed corn meal as a questionable ingredient. Check out their advice on grain-free diet and DCM.
Here’s another good resource to get up to speed with taurine and DCM.
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