Are you feeding your dog grain-free dog food? Anyone making the switch to regular now?

[Floridaman999]

Dang, we've been feeding ours Taste of the Wild for years and years with our vets blessing. I guess I'm gonna have to call him up and ask about this again just to be sure. I thought we were doing the right thing for them and now it seems we might have been doing it all wrong. This sucks.

 

[creativeamanda]

Our basset hound almost died last fall. The cause? REGULAR dog food. Grain free saved him. There is no way on earth I'm changing him back.

 

[Colleen27]

We never went full-out grain free, but we started feeding 4Health (Tractor Supply brand) corn/wheat/soy free food when one of our dogs developed skin issues that our vet thought could be diet related. She took to the lamb & rice formula without any difficulty and her health improved noticeably, not just the obvious skin problems that led us to change her diet but also some less serious problems that we'd attributed to age. You might want to try that and see if the sensitive stomach that was helped by a grain-free diet might be a reaction to one of the more allergenic grains that are used in most dog food.

 

[dhardawa]

Ours is on the Taste of the Wild salmon one, but she eats a lot of people food too, so I’m not overly concerned.

 

[jrmasm]

Never jumped on the grain free wagon. Such as heck wouldn’t now.

I trust my vet friends. It’s a no go for them as well.

 

[Pucks104]

Our family includes 3 dogs and 2 cats. We feed them Answers Raw and they are thriving. From reading lots about the grain-free diets and DCM, some are saying that when peas, lentils, chickpeas, etc. are added to dog food in place of rice, barley and other grains, the protein in those vegetables increases the overall protein amount in the food so that pet food manufacturers lower the meat content to control costs. This vegetable protein doesn’t contain taurine which meat protein (especially animal heart and other organ meat does). This leads to an inadequate level of taurine in these grain free formulas. If these formulas are the only food the pet gets then it isn’t taking in enough taurine and some develop DCM. I expect more looking into this issue will, maybe, clarify the reason but be skeptical about information and thoroughly research your options.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

I switched my dogs food. I dont want to find out years from now my dogs have heart issues from something I could have easily avoided for them
Ive read article after article. The decision was not made lightly.
My dogs breeder even wrote an article on it.
My vet said if i felt strongly to change it.
I asked her what she did and she doesnt feed grain free

 

[Aimeedyan]

Dog food choices are a struggle for sure! As research improves we learn more but then seemingly good food gets hit with a recall and dog deaths. It's so hard to know the right thing.

We have been feeding Nature's Domain (Costco GF) but are going to try transitioning over to Kirkland. My seniors get pickier and pickier (and gassier!) so I have no idea if it'll work. At this point, the damage is probably already done if there was any but I can't sleep at night knowing that I could have done something differently, even at this stage in their life, and didn't. You know?

But if they snub their nose up at it, or don't respond well, we'll go back to Nature's Domain and keep them happy. They are 13 & 15 and already get homemade dog food spooned over top their dry stuff just to get them to eat

 

[needsomesun]

My former dog had a sensitive stomach and we fed him Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Salmon and Rice formula. He tolerated it great.

This is what ours are on also

 

[jsmith]

Here is more information from the FDA about the issue, as reported by Dog Food Advisor:

https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-...-link-between-diet-and-heart-disease-in-dogs/
It is certainly not a cut and dry problem.

1 ) Dog Food advisor is run by a human Dentist-so what is there can be taken with a grain of salt.
2) The most common allergen for dogs is not grains-it is chicken so some of you who are feeding grain free food may simply have gotten another food with different amounts of chicken therebye solving your problems and crediting grain free food.
3) When I recently had to change foods I was advised to avoid anything with legumes or potato's in the first five ingredients ( by a Colorado State university canine cardiologist) I am currently feeding Fromm Salmon Ala veg as the primary component of my dogs mixed diet. I also add Ziwi peak Beef, Lamb, or Venison ( no chicken for one of my boys ), Honest Kitchen freeze dried, fresh foods like raw meat, spinach, berries and other good stuff. A varied or rotational diet will help avoid some of the issues since you have a broader source of nutrients.
I have a breed that is notorious for digestive issues-we have far fewer on a mixed diet than we did before on a single stream kibble diet.
4) I am not going to change brands of dog food based on this information-just be aware of what is in what I am feeding and make sure I am getting echos'

 

[Mrlogboy]

We feed our Pugs grain free and have for several years. Luck that ours not on the lists. We have to as they have had Sever Algeria’s and their ears for dirty and all cleand up once switched.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

1 ) Dog Food advisor is run by a human Dentist-so what is there can be taken with a grain of salt.

So what if he's a dentist? He's a highly medically educated dog lover whose own beloved dog died as a result of tainted dog food who took on the pet food industry by creating a website we can all use to alert us to food recalls that can harm our pets! To me, he's a hero! He also has degrees in chemistry, biology, and is a doctor of dentistry - many of the same classes that doctors, veterinarians, nurses and other health professionals take. I'd listen to him before I listened to someone with no formal training at all, but regardless, he works with two research assistants and a veterinarian to pull all the information together, as well as has a research library, so they are looking at all the information from many different angles, maybe even more so than some other agencies are.

His story:
https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/about/

I am not going to change brands of dog food based on this information - just be aware of what is in what Ia am feeding and make sure I am getting echos

You get echocardiograms on your dogs? How many and how often? They must be happy to take your money for that. You realize that if you find that the ejection fraction has diminished, damage has already been done, there's not a lot you can do to reverse it, and it can continue to advance at that point? It's sort of like putting a bandaid on a wound instead of trying to prevent getting hurt in the first place. But to each his own.

 

[jsmith]

You get echocardiograms on your dogs? How many and how often? They must be happy to take your money for that. You realize that if you find that the ejection fraction has diminished, damage has already been done, there's not a lot you can do to reverse it, and it can continue to advance at that point? It's sort of like putting a bandaid on a wound instead of trying to prevent getting hurt in the first place. But to each his own.

My dogs are breeding animals so yes we stay current on heart and eyes and all that good stuff. Group clinics, often offered at dog shows are reasonably priced. Nutritional DCM is reversible if caught early and my breed is not Known for DCM either genetic or nutritional. Only one identified case of DCM that we know of in the US-we are more often looking for SAS. But again-I don't feed grain free dog food-and I don't feed kibble exclusively so my risk for nutritional DCM is quiet low. I appreciate the recall information provided by dog food advisor of course but I tend to take nutritional guidance on what to feed from a veterinary nutritionist rather than a web site. as you said-to each his own.

 

[LSUmiss]

I’m one who has fed my dogs premium dog food for years. All have lived to be in their teens. I never did switch to “grain-free” as I think it’s mostly nonsense.

 

[mickeyfan100]

My dog also has a very sensitive stomach, and we tried many brand before finding the Fromm she is eating (specifically the Pork and Applesauce variety).

 

[Pea-n-Me]

My dogs are breeding animals so yes we stay current on heart and eyes and all that good stuff. Group clinics, often offered at dog shows are reasonably priced. Nutritional DCM is reversible if caught early and my breed is not Known for DCM either genetic or nutritional. Only one identified case of DCM that we know of in the US-we are more often looking for SAS. But again-I don't feed grain free dog food-and I don't feed kibble exclusively so my risk for nutritional DCM is quiet low. I appreciate the recall information provided by dog food advisor of course but I tend to take nutritional guidance on what to feed from a veterinary nutritionist rather than a web site. as you said-to each his own.

Dilated cardiomyopathy is not always reversible. Often the exact cause is not known - it's an educated guessing game. We celebrate when and if it happens because it is rare to see. Personally I'd prefer to try to avoid it if I could - it's not a condition I want to take chances on.

 

[JohnnyG]

Duplicate

 

[JohnnyG]

And so their #2 on the list is grain free. And 5 stars.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

And so their #2 on the list is grain free. And 5 stars.

This is why it's so complex to try to understand and act upon.

The most of what is known right now may be listed here:

https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-...-link-between-diet-and-heart-disease-in-dogs/

 

[lifesavacation]

And so their #2 on the list is grain free. And 5 stars.

The grain free Orijen I use is also listed as one of the top dog foods and is 5 stars. It also has DCM cases. I have a call out to the vet and will hopefully get some advice on whether to switch food or not.