Grain Free Dog Food

Taurine for Dogs and Cats | Taurine Boost

www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/4health-grain-free-chicken-vegetables-formula-adult-dog-food-30-lb-bag


Our veterinarian told us that there is new evidence that a grain free diet for dogs may be harmful to their hearts. If your dog can not tolerate grains, then their food should be supplemented with taurine. The first attached link is what I bought our dog. The second link is a grain free hard food fortified with taurine sold at tractor supply. I don’t know that our dog can not tolerate grains. I had always thought that grain free was better. Apparently no longer.

For what it’s worth...............
Mrs. Woodlands

Has anyone been told anything about this? This was the first time our vet mentioned it.

Mr. W.

 

A couple years ago there was news about some grain free foods leading to an increased risk of a certain heart problem. From what I remember, those foods were towards the higher price range. My thought was that people who used those foods might be more likely to pony up for all the vet work to get it diagnosed. So would the food actually cause it? Or were the people buying those foods just the dog owners who were willing to spend more to get their dogs diagnosed?
I was feeding grain free, then switched to a sensitive skin and stomach formula because I thought allergies may have been behind an issue my dog was having. It turned out to not be allergies but I found no reason to switch her off the food.

 

Both of my brittany's need grain free food. Neither has solid stool without. The 4 health is exactly what they eat. They seem to prefer the duck and potato formula.

 

I don’t have any links with me but I give a quick synopsis. I deal with this subject every day!

1) Yes DCM is real
2) Dietary caused DCM is not limited to grain free diets, but the grain free diets are the most common cause of it
3) Diets at risk usually have potatoes, lentils, legumes, pulses as one or more of first 5 ingredients
4) If caught early diet change and taurine supplement can REVERSES the DCM
5) Study looking at other dogs in house showed ultrasound evidence of heart failure in over 80% of housemates fed same diet
6) If you stay with Iams, Purina, Science Diet, Royal Canin, Eukanuba you don’t need to worry about DCM. The chart to follow is a little dated, current number diagnosed and reported to the FDA are 10x this. Actually numbers are probably 1000x this as most cases are not reported. I have seen 10-20 cases that I’m confident were nutritional DCM, owner refused to see cardiologist.

 

Thank you for your input DNH.

If you had some links to scholarly veterinary research articles, I'd love to read them.

 

We have 4 dogs, I took them off grain free two years ago for the above reason. I do at times mix a small amount of wet food in their primarily dry food. Sometimes the wet is grain free, other times not. I also use beef based wet. My reading suggests that dogs need beef but their diet does primarily have grains.

 

I would avoid that 4health food in the link despite it having taurine, peas and lentils are in the first several ingredients...first ingredients Chicken, chicken meal, garbanzo beans, lentils, peas, potatoes,

some links to read for those interested;

‘BEG’ Diets and DCM in Dogs: Recommendations Regarding Diagnosis and Management | MedVet
This one appears to be the source of the graphic about specific brands of foods from above. I was surprised to see Fromm on that graphic. Fromm has MANY formulations, I checked the formulations that I am feeding and they all contain taurine as a supplement and do not contains peas or lentils, so I think grouping an entire manufacturer in the graphic may be a bit misleading...check your own foods and read the ingredients list.

FDA Investigates Potential Link Between Diet & Heart Disease in Dogs

ttps://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/full/10.2460/javma.253.11.1390


Edit for clarity, I do not mean to imply that DNH is misleading in his information, only that linking a manufacturer based on cases reported can be misleading.

 

We too went with the tractor supply brand, after Fromm for the first 2 years. I suppose one could stick with a grainfree taurine-supplimented brand, or add grains in on the side?

Sca

 

We too used to feed our goldens grain free, not because I wanted actual grain free but because I wanted a dog food which didn't have corn as a first ingredient. Looking solely at the ingredient list sucked me in to the grain free stuff. Started out with Taste of the Wild for many years, then went to NutriSource a couple years ago after reading about DCM in grain free diets. We switched to Purina Pro Plan about 6 months ago specifically because I was concerned about DCM and was not convinced Nutrisource was the answer. According to the graph posted above, this was a good decision, but so was switching from TOTW to Nutrisource.

 

I don't think the association between grain free food and the heart issues (DCM) is because of the exclusion of the grains but rather the inclusion of the peas, lentils, potatoes and other legumes as a major ingredient. These ingredients are included as a way to boost the protein level of a grain free food without having to use more expensive animal protein. Plant protein, however does not contain the amino acid taurine. Dogs as well as other animals can synthesize their own taurine from other amino acids but there seems to be a link between dietary taurine levels and DCM especially in large breed dogs who tend to be less able to synthesize their own taurine. The exact reason is not yet fully understood. Personally, I would steer clear of grain free food unless the animal can not tolerate the food with grains, and I would make sure that whatever food I feed does not contain peas, lentils and other legumes as a major ingredient, the major ingredients in dog food should be meat.

 

This is my take on it as well from the looking in I have done.