Vets still seeing cases of dog heart problems linked to grain-free food

[madville]

Interesting read if you are a pet owner, something to keep an eye on for sure.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/it-s-not-going-away-vets-still-seeing-cases-dog-n1107791

For weeks, Kanga had been experiencing odd symptoms, including fatigue, breathing problems and what her local vet assumed were seizures. But now Turner was being told that the Maltese-Chihuahua mix was in late-stage heart failure. The seizures, it turned out, had been fainting spells.

“So I’m sitting with what I thought was a healthy 6-year-old dog that was having minor seizures, and now I find out she might only have three months to live,” said Turner, 66, of Orlando, Florida. “At that point I felt like I was in a bottomless pit with no way out.”

The first question the specialist had asked Turner when she brought in Kanga — whose blood pressure had skyrocketed — was, “Do you feed her grain-free dog food?” The answer was yes.

Turner is one of a growing list of pet owners whose healthy-sounding dog food may have somehow led to a serious heart problem in their pets called dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).

[frogmarch]

1. I cook wild rice and also pearl barley

for my dog. Because of the high arsenic content in them, I avoid white and brown rice, and I go with pearl barley instead of husked barley because pearl barley has both the outer husk and bran layers removed instead of just the husk as in regular barley, and pearl barley is low in arsenic content.

I mix the grains with roasted skinless chicken breasts or lean cooked beef and various veggies.

Ty is an elderly poodle who still bounces around like a puppy, and his poops are firm, thanks to the grains.

Edited to add a link: https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2015/01/how-much-arsenic-is-in-your-rice/index.htm

[Peregrine Took]

5. You sound like a great pet parent. Good for you and your lucky poodle. n/t

[TheBlackAdder]

8. Rice and barley are void of most nutrients that are found in a mixed-plant and meat diet.

.

There needs to be a holistic approach, including meats, grains, vegetables and other plants.

Most of the synthesized vitamins are not properly digested and absorbed and get passed through the body.

What is also needed are organ meats, which contains many vitamin compounds that cannot even be synthesized for effective use in human supplements. Besides some of the B vitamins, vitamin C from ascorbic acid is not absorbed. We take it, our urine turns yellow, but we don't absorb it. Vitamin C must be naturally derived, or sourced from rosehips, and other sources... often labeled RAW Vitamin C.

My Broodle Griffon gets a natural variety of meats and vegetables. Grain is fed but it is kept to a minimum to stave off insulin resistance issues that lead to weight gain, pancreatic and liver function issues and even ocular issues.

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[hunter]

9. Dogs don't need vitamin C.

Somewhere along the way the fruit eating ancestors of Homo sapiens misplaced the ability to synthesize Vitamin C. The ancestors of dogs didn't.

Some studies suggest small amounts of vitamin C may be beneficial to dogs, but there's no strong evidence for this.

To the extent dogs and their kin are omnivorous, a little bit of vitamin C isn't going to hurt.

Coyotes frequently eat fruits and berries, but I've never seen our dogs do that, possibly because they are not hungry enough and the kibble we feed them lists some fruits and vegetables among the ingredients.

A healthy diverse diet is always going to be preferable to an unhealthy diet supplemented with synthetic vitamins. That's true for dogs and people.

Otherwise, vitamin C is vitamin C.

If by some misadventure I'm suffering scurvy I'd be happy to take a synthetic vitamin C supplement or eat some citrus, whichever I can.

If I take some B-complex vitamin, sure, my pee turns yellow, but that doesn't mean my body hasn't absorbed what's needed, it only means my kidneys have been at work removing the excess vitamins from my blood.

[TheBlackAdder]

10. I was primarily making the point that certain synthasized vitamins and elements are ineffective.

.

That's why natural-sourced vitamins and minerals are best. That is the point of my prior post.

Vitamin C is not all the same.

While technically ascorbic acid derived Vitamin C is Vitamin C, the human body knows the difference.

People take ascorbic acid based Vitamin C and see their pee turn yellow and they think either they have enough for the body and the rest is peed away in a fluorescent stream. That's a complete myth. Ascorbic Vitamin C is not processed by the body and most of it will pass straight through. Now, if the same effect occurs with RAW Vitamin C, then yes that is the case.

Dogs in the wild will eat anything, even domestic dogs left outside and malnourished. They will eat plants, root for food, eat bugs, poop, and pretty much anything they can. This is what dogs in the wild have done for eons. I've had rescue animals that we had to ween off of eating everything from house paint to wood. If humans were put in that same situation, and didn't know what to eat, we'd try a lot of odd things to remain fed and satiated.

B vitamins are the same, some are not properly synthesized to where the body effectively absorbs them. Sure I take a B complex that is partially synthesized, but I supplement it with liverwurst and other ketogenic-friendly meat sources.

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[MontanaMama]

2. Holy gawd. This is alarming.

I just called my mother in law...she’s got her cocker spaniel on a grain free diet...not prescribed by her vet. I suggested she might call the vet and ask about this.

[madville]

3. That's a good idea

From the article, the heart failure could be linked to the absence of a specific amino acid in some of these grain-free per foods.

[StatGirl]

4. The amino acid is taurine, and deficiency was linked to early death in cats quite some time ago.

Manufacturers should be including adequate amounts in food. However, it can also be purchased as a supplement and added to foods directly.

It has nothing to do with grain or no grain, by the way. It's naturally found in animal-source foods. However, it can degrade quickly.

[cbdo2007]

6. My vet told us to use the normal Purina food...

It's been around for 50 years without a recipe change or any serious complications for the most amount of dogs. She says any other food you should be wary of, especially anything marketed as healthy or trendy.

[leftyladyfrommo]

11. There are five companies that are considered

safe: Purina, Royal Canin, Science Diet, Iams and I can't think if the other 1right now. These companies test their foods for years and produce foods that are formulated by Certified Veterinary Nutritionists and board certified veterinarians and cardiologists. They follow strict guidelines.

The worst companies so far are Arcana, Zignature. Orijen, Taste of the Wild. Fromm.

Come to find out most if these companies don't do any testing at all and their formulations ended up being deadly to dogs and cats in some cases. They have no experts in pet nutrition on staff at all.

[Ilsa]

14. Is Blue good? It's expensive enough. I feed one of my dogs

a formula for senior dogs including chicken, rice, and something else. She needs help with her joints.

[leftyladyfrommo]

15. Nope. So far just feed the foods listed above.

Scientists are trying to figure out what it is about the grain free foods that is causing heart failure. At first they thought it was taurine but a lot of these dogs have normal taurine levels.

Just feed the safe foods until they can figure out where the problem is. Then you can make safe choices.

I switched from Fromm (not the grain free) about 5 months ago. I feed Purina Proplan Sensitive Skin and Stomach to my border collies. They are doing great on it. Their coats look better than they ever have.

Dogs can handle grains. They are not wolves. Usually if they are allergic it's due to chicken or beef not grain.

[womanofthehills]

17. I have a friend who is a vegetarian and she was getting the shakes bad

until she started taking taurine. However, all the grain free brands have meat and meat has taurine which makes me think it could be Roundup - sprayed on US peas a few days before harvest.

[leftyladyfrommo]

18. Dogs make their own taurine.

At first people thought it had to do with taurine but it has to be more than that. A lot of the sick dogs have normal taurine levels.

[MissB]

7. The rescue that we adopted our lab mix from insisted on grain free food.

Our vet was horrified. He quickly overrode that particular edict.

[lanlady]

12. I've taken my cat off grain-free food

Per my vet, who said it's actually harmful.

[womanofthehills]

16. I feed my dogs Iams topped with cooked chicken, or beef with a little baloney on top - twice a day

When I got my dog Bouba he hated all kibble and canned dog food, and I tried all kinds of commercial dog food even organic and Zignature (which creeps me out now). What he only likes is Iams that I top with real chicken and beef. My second dog, Jazzy, a rescue, had dry white fur when I got her a yr ago and now she is super silky on this diet. My dogs do not like rice, but it does have arsenic and should not be eaten every day. I live in the southwest high desert and I often catch them eating juniper berries off the trees - same as the coyotes.

My take on Zignature and some of the grain free brands is that many have peas and sweet potatoes that have high levels of Roundup on them. Could be the pesticides adding to the problem. Most peas grown in US are sprayed with Roundup right before harvest to dry them evenly.

I tried grain free in the past for my kitty and my smart cat would not eat it.

A few yrs ago, my older dog died at 19 yrs of age and his diet was Iams with raw beef. Bouba, my new dog only likes his beef cooked but he loves raw bones.

[Doremus]

19. The vet board I read said they suspect isolated pea protein

No one really knows for sure yet.

I buy various brands of premium canned food with NO meat byproducts. I rotate the different brands/flavors so that we're not feeding the same food everyday. This is very important. I also stay away from any marked 'grain free'.

They still haven't issued a recall for the affected brands. I didn't expect them to though, after having seen how horribly they behaved during the melamin tragedy several years ago.