Grain Free Diets the Myth!

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I write Children's books and True stories about animals I write my Blog about anything that peaks my interests that week it could be anything!!

I know we all remember the wheat free craze, you can't forget because we are still in it. when it went nuts it even hurt the bread Industry, not all those people needed to go wheat free, so many of those people never got tested to see if they couldn't eat wheat. I never fell for that, what I did fall for was the grain free craze that is so big today in our dog food industry. We are so easily persuaded to try something new. So many people jump on that band wagon to feed their dogs Grain Free, sounded good that's what I thought, until I started seeing stories like this one. In March 2019 Ridgefield veterinary center, had two Golden Retrievers one 6 yrs and one 2 yrs of age they came in for elective surgical procedures. Both dogs had been eating a will know grain free diet for years. One dog had  Arrhythmia (irregular heart beat) detected, and a chest x-ray was taken, and what they saw was an enlarged heart. So they did a Echo-cardiogram. They did all the same tests on the other golden. When all was said and done both Golden's had Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM). In both cases the cardiologist suspects that in both dogs it was their diet. They are back on a traditional diet, it was caught early so their condition should reverse. these cases were reported to the FDA, along with thousands of other cases across the country. There is no evidence to support feeding a grain free diet, will get rid of allergies, Most often allergies are environment (pollen's,etc. or types of protein sources, grain allergies are but a tiny fraction  of all food allergies in dogs. Many dogs are becoming very ill , or even dying from eating (boutique, Exotic grain free Diets.) The sad thing is that nutritionally  Dilated Cardiomyopathy(DCM) is 100% preventable. The FDA is alerting pet owners and Vets to dogs eating grain Free Diets that have Peas, Lentils, and other legumes seeds or potatoes as a main ingredients. The FDA also was trying to say there is a genetic link to dogs getting (DCM) but its  occurring in breeds the are not genetically prone to ( DCM).  Its my opinion but I don't think its a genetic link as a whole, I think its the grain free diets. Breeds that are more often affected by (DCM) are Great Danes,Boxers,Newfoundlands,Irish wolf hounds,Saint Bernard's and Dobermans. Less common in small or medium breeds, except American and English Cocker Spaniels. How ever the cases that the FDA has included golden and Labrador Retrieves, Whippets,a Shih Tuz,a Bull dog and a Miniature Schnauzer, as well as mixed breeds. Dr. Josh Stern, a veterinary cardiologist and geneticist at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine ,Began seeing an alarming trend in cases at the veterinary Hospitals a few years ago. Golden retrievers were being diagnosed more frequently with (DCM) a disease not commonly associated with this breed. This diagnosis of (DCM) was coupled with another finding that many of the dogs were eating the same grain-free diet and had blood tests confirming low Taurine levels. Taurine is an amino acid that dogs get naturally in their diets and manufacture from other building blocks contained in the food. although dogs have the ability to manufacture taurine, it has been known for sometime that low levels of taurine are associated with a potentially reversible form of (DCM). 
Since this initial observation, Stern has been recruiting and studying golden retrievers with DCM and taurine deficiency. He has observed that the vast majority of these patients respond favorably to taurine supplementation and diet change, a prognosis that is not usually noted with traditional, genetic DCM. Stern alerted the veterinary cardiology community to his finding, leading to the formation of a larger collaboration between multiple institutions and clinicians. Although golden retrievers appear more commonly affected by a taurine deficient form of this condition, the problem was noted in dogs of many breeds eating similar diets across North America. Stern is no stranger to golden retriever research. He is the proud pet parent and veterinarian of a golden retriever enrolled in Morris Animal Foundation’s Golden Retriever Lifetime Study, as well as a researcher into genetics of cardiac disease in purebred dogs including golden retrievers. It is important to realize that in the population of golden retrievers that Stern studies with taurine-deficient DCM, the condition is not able to be explained by inheritance, as many of the dogs are completely unrelated with no familial history of prior DCM. UC Davis is fortunate to have Drs. Andrea Fascetti and Jennifer Larsen, two of the world’s experts in veterinary nutrition and specifically taurine studies. Stern, Fascetti, Larsen, and veterinary cardiology resident Joanna Kaplan have been working together to understand the dietary link in golden retrievers with taurine deficient DCM and are in the process of submitting a manuscript documenting these findings.


In conclusion, its my opinion that If  you are feeding a grain free diet and the first ingredients are peas, lentils other legumes,seed, or potatoes as main ingredients I would stop feeding that diet to your dogs and maybe have the taurine levels checked in your dogs. we all fell for a great marketing campaign with no scientific research to back it up and that's sad!

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Sources:
Ridgefield Veterinary Center March 2019
FDA July 2018
UC Davis July 2018
Thanks Take Care
T.J. Palm