Thoughts on the "grain free"/DCM association?

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Makintrax73
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Thoughts on the "grain free"/DCM association?

Post by Makintrax73 » Tue Jun 04, 2019 1:32 pm

Any thoughts on the recently published studies associating "grain free" dog food with dilated cardiomyopathy?

I had the dog on a Purina Grain Free product because he was a picky eater and ate the Grain Free OK. I did note some concerning things
with my dog. When I ran him during warmer weather he would overheat quite quickly, begin to breath heavily and weeze in a way which I considered abnormal. So I would always cool him down and stop him at that point. However it did concern me because although the dog was in good condition he seemed way more heat sensitive than I considered normal. (He is a setter with short hair for a setter, and a slim build). This dog has done many 20+ mile days in cooler with no issues.

In any case I never discussed it with a vet, I just chalked it up to a dog with low heat tolerance and lived with it.

After a couple years he began to eat better. I switched him to Pro Plan Sport. This year I notice markedly better heat tolerance. He is now what I would consider normal based on my other prior dogs with his reaction to heat. Most importantly I am not noticing the severe weezing that I was previously seeing in warm weather.

So now I read about the heart issues associated with Grain Free, and I'm wondering if my dog was suffering from a bad diet. His conditioning regime has not changed. He is older and slightly fatter (but still thin), yet seems rather more heat tolerant today than he was a couple years ago. The only thing I can think of is the food change.

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Re: Thoughts on the "grain free"/DCM association?

Post by cjhills » Tue Jun 04, 2019 8:21 pm

A female pup I sold whose owner put her on grain free food was diagnosed with an enlarge heart. It was discovered when she was x rayed after being hit by a car. His vet changed her food and she is fine now. They thought it would have been fatal......Cj

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Dakotazeb
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Re: Thoughts on the "grain free"/DCM association?

Post by Dakotazeb » Thu Jun 06, 2019 8:14 am

Is DCM an issue? Maybe. But I don't think it's as big a deal as some have made it out to be. I'm certainly not a proponent of grain-free foods, but because I have a dog with an allergy issue I have been feeding her a limited ingredient, grain-free food for the past two years. She is in excellent physical condition. Great muscle tone and endurance. She is a field trial dog and can run all day. I think some of the issue with DCM was attributed to the lack of Taurine in the diet. But I see many of the quality grain-free formulas now include Taurine as an ingredient.
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setterpoint
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Re: Thoughts on the "grain free"/DCM association?

Post by setterpoint » Sun Jun 16, 2019 11:05 am

I have a small setter that ran so hard in hot weather would over heat badly I would have to stop her and put the leash on her she wouldn't quit I think she would kill herself, cooler weather help but still was wide open all the time tryed many differant foods
but it was she just ran to hard she's now 4 year old and she has learned to pace herself some but still will over heat befor the other dogs
so when it's warm she the first one out in the mornings, I told you this story because it wasn't the food I was fed ding it was she push herself to hard
and if another dog was put down at the same time that even made it worst

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Re: Thoughts on the "grain free"/DCM association?

Post by shags » Sun Jun 16, 2019 11:35 am

Seems like I read that the problem regarding grain free is that the peas and other legumes inhibit the bioavailability of any taurine that's in the food.
Do what you must if you have a dog with grain allergies; but for most situations the grain free thing is just marketing IMO. Didn't it pop up around the time gluten became evil for people? "Feed 'em like family" and all that.

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