![]() ![]() The FDA began looking into the link between diet and development of this condition after receiving 524 reports of DCM between Januand April 30, 2019, with some of these reports involving multiple animals from the one household. Unfortunately, these cases worsen over time and are generally irreversible and fatal. Over time the heart isn’t able to circulate blood throughout the body properly and there becomes an increase in back pressure resulting in fluid leaking into the lungs and abdomen. ![]() DCM and Grain-Free Diets What’s the Link?ĭilated Cardiomyopathy is a cardiac condition whereby there is an enlargement of the heart through weakening of its walls. It is a complex situation though as DCM can be a multifactorial disease process and taurine levels can vary greatly depending on what is included in a diet. It appears that a lack of the amino acid taurine may play an important role in the disease process, although it is still uncertain as to whether it is a lack of dietary taurine causing this or not enough of its amino acid building blocks, methionine and cysteine (3). There has been a great deal of speculation and assumptions made off the back of this investigation and I’ll attempt to summarise these as clearly and simply as possible. This isn’t exactly quite so cut and dry and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US has attempted to find a correlation between certain ingredients in pet food and DCM, pointing at grain-free diets as the issue last year, naming 16 specific brands, but have been unable to find a direct link (13,14,15). ![]() You may have seen online, or have been told recently that dogs need to go back to a diet that contains grains so they don’t develop a specific type of heart disease called Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM). By Dr Duncan Houston, Veterinarian and Pet Nutritionist ![]()
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