Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in Dogs and Cats

[brewmaster15]

Im a very strong believer of healthy ingredients for my cats food and while researching them I have seen more and more references to a disease condition called Dilated cardiomyopathy or DCM.

DCM is characterized by dilation of the ventricles with ventricular wall thinning. In many cases, dilation of all four chambers of the heart is seen. The ability of the heart to serve as a pump is diminished, and clinical signs of DCM occur secondary to either decreased delivery of oxygenated blood to the body (lethargy, weakness, weight loss, collapse), or to congestion of blood in the lungs (coughing, increased respiratory rate and/or effort, abdominal distention) or both. Cardiac dilation, decreased oxygen supply, and increased oxygen demand secondary to elevated heart rate and ventricular wall stress may predispose to the development of cardiac arrhythmias arising in either the atria (atrial fibrillation, supraventricular tachycardia) or in the ventricles (ventricular premature complexes, ventricular tachycardia). Arrhythmias may predispose affected dogs to sudden death.

source: Cornell EDU

There is a genetic form of this disease and a diet associated form. The diet associated form is troubling because its hard to pin point exactly what causes it.Currently it appears to be linked to grain free petfoods using pulses..peas, lentils, chickpeas, and dried beans... peas in particular are often used. The disease affects dogs but cats also have been reported. See this article..

https://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/2023/...snt-gone-away/

As a side note..historically cats suffered from this disease more prior to pet food companies adding more Taurine to their food.

I do not think the jury is out yet on the causes and the FDA is still evaluating. As I am not a vet I am posting this purely as informational as I know many here love their cats and dogs . I would encourage members to research Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and talk with your vets about it, and if your pet is diagnosed please report it to the FDA ..It may help them pinpoint what the cause (causes) are.

Read here..https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinar...itary-dcm-dogs


Al

[mleibowi]

My vet told me that it’s occurring more frequently with grain free foods. We don’t buy that anymore.

[jeep]

Thanks for posting Al. I've been supplementing my dogs dry food with a raw chicken mix and they go crazy over it. I've given some away to friends for their dogs and everyone keeps begging me for more. I'll also be making a beef mix at some point, but the cost of beef is ridiculous and not cost effective for my "professionally trained and calm" pig whose main goal in life is to consume every ounce of food in the house, lol...

[Iminit]

Very interesting study. I’m not surprised! Since these grain free foods came out they’ve been recomended by 3 different Vets I’ve used! My boxer Guinness had DCM its common with boxers. It’s why he passed. I’ve always looked at these grain free foods as more gimmick than good. They are much more expensive too. Not to say the makers are greedy but hey we all know it’s all about sales! Not an excuse for them but here in New York there just aren’t enough Vets. My guy who I’ve been with for 20yrs is so overworked it’s insane. He works with his brother and they can’t take any new customers. Can’t get more Vets to help. I have to wonder if he even knows this. Always tells us we are feeding the right stuff. Guinness was diagnosed when he was a puppy. We were told than that this was how he would die. Still shocking! Had I had any idea i would have changed. Food probably sped it up. Next there are only 2 heart vets in the tri-state area! 2. Can you believe that. 1k for appt. Seen both with Guinness. Would go to whoever we could get into first. Always just checkups.

Thank Al! What does everybody feed their dogs? What brand of foods. I’ve been using Health Extension grain free and Merrick grain free.

[Iminit]

Hey Brian it’s funny but we did feed chicken for years too. Boiled though. Came to realize it to cause problems. Basically skin problems. Rashes and dry spots. Maybe the boiling? Stoped that years ago and the rashes stopped. That was a family wide thing 6 different dogs with the same problem. It started about a year into feeding the chicken. Went away very quickly when we stopped. All different type of dogs.

[jeep]

Thanks for letting me know. Did you feed it exclusively or as a supplement? Did you make a mix? I include a lot of greens and fruits and vitamins. I haven't perfected a recipe, but just read some articles and winged it. I certainly don't want my homemade food to be bad for them...

[Iminit]

Mixed with above mentioned dry foods.

[brewmaster15]

I know several people that use a Pressure cooker to make their own dog foods from Chicken.. Its definitely safer then boiling as the bones become soft and edible.


I never understood the grain free dog foods, they are omnivores, probably ones that are borderline carnivores, but adaptable to omnivore diets as needed...God knows they tend to eat all kinds of stuff! With cats it makes sense as they are carnivores. Cats main problems right now with pet food is fillers that really just make them fat. Diabetes is a problem as a result. We dealt with that one of our cats.

I also think there are just too much junk ingredients.. its unrelated to this condition but I am highly suspicious of ingredients that its okay to put in pet food, but not okay for human consumption or is borlerline toxic. I also think when they rely on pulses its a major problem, dig deep enough and even humans can have issues with these and the plant chemicals in them.

The two ingredients for me as deal breakers is

menadione sodium bisulfite complex (Vitamin K) artificial vit K and toxic to people yet common in Pet foods.

Ethylenediamine dihydroiodide (EDDI) a source of iodine, but there are other options that I think are safer


preservatives...
Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA)
Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT)
Ethoxyquin (“Fish Meal”)


The more I research things the harder it gets to find a perfect , by my standards, cat food.... its always a compromise here or there in ingredients. At this point we have been Feeding "Dave's "

Chicken Pate..

Ingredients

Chicken, chicken broth, chicken liver, turkey, guar gum, sweet potatoes, carrots, agar-agar, potassium chloride, salt, minerals (iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, manganese proteinate, sodium selenite, potassium iodide), choline chloride, vitamins (vitamin e supplement, thiamine mononitrate, niacin supplement, d-calcium pantothen-ate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, vitamin a supplement, biotin, vitamin d3 supplement, vitamin b12 supplement, folic acid)

No preservatives and no junk. Cats love it.

I know they make Dogfood too. Not sure on the ingredients



obviously these are my opinions, research and decide for yourself.

al

[jwcarlson]

I raw feed our dogs, a premade mix. I like it for a lot of reasons, but dental health is up there on the list. I though that the grain free food study was faulty? Though I don't disagree that it's gimmicky, considering they just stuff it with other fillers like potato/peas/other stuff Al mentioned.
We fed a Purina Beneful to our beagle for about half of his 13 years. I finally quit because he would frequently quit eating and be sickly. Never happenex again after we'd switched him to Orjen kibble.

[LizStreithorst]

I know I'm in the minority here and on most purebred dog forums, but my dogs and I have always been happy with a good basic dog food from the feed store. I look for 26% protein and no artificial colors My vet came by just last week to float the teeth on my 31 year old mare and pull blood on my 14 year old Bassett X Shar Pei because he had lost some weight and I was worried because of his advanced age. The blood work was exactly what you would expect of an old dog. His heart was good and his teeth was good. In fact, all my mutts have good teeth. Of course they also eat all my left overs which are many but spread between 5 of them plus a spoiled chicken. I think that fancy expensive diets are only necessary if the dog has a specific problem that will be helped by the expensive food.

[brady]

I feed my 5 year old golden Science diet "lite". He is perfect health and very active.
I sometimes feed him some table scraps but I have to watch it because he tends to gain weight easily. Right now he is 102# and
according to the vet he is in perfect shape.
Jay

[LizStreithorst]

You have a good reason to feed a fancy expensive food, Jay.

[smsimcik]

Im a very strong believer of healthy ingredients for my cats food and while researching them I have seen more and more references to a disease condition called Dilated cardiomyopathy or DCM.


source: Cornell EDU

There is a genetic form of this disease and a diet associated form. The diet associated form is troubling because its hard to pin point exactly what causes it.Currently it appears to be linked to grain free petfoods using pulses..peas, lentils, chickpeas, and dried beans... peas in particular are often used. The disease affects dogs but cats also have been reported. See this article..

https://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/2023/...snt-gone-away/

As a side note..historically cats suffered from this disease more prior to pet food companies adding more Taurine to their food.

I do not think the jury is out yet on the causes and the FDA is still evaluating. As I am not a vet I am posting this purely as informational as I know many here love their cats and dogs . I would encourage members to research Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and talk with your vets about it, and if your pet is diagnosed please report it to the FDA ..It may help them pinpoint what the cause (causes) are.

Read here..https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinar...itary-dcm-dogs


Al

As the resident vet here, I'll tell you what I know about DCM in cats. There may be more than one cause but taurine deficiency is definitely the most common cause. As you noted, most commercial cat foods have added more taurine to the diet. Taurine is an amino acid found in raw meat. DCM is rarely seen any more as a result of cat food companies addressing this issue. I have seen a couple of cases of DCM in cats that were fed exclusively vegan type homemade diets by their owners. The owners actually thought they were feeding a healthier diet but in reality, caused DCM in these cats. By the time the cat starts showing symptoms, it's usually too late to reverse the condition. Taurine deficiency also causes retinal degeneration and can lead to blindness in cats.

HCM or Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy is a much more common type of heart failure in cats. We see those all the time. There can be multiple causes for HCM, hyperthyroidism, obesity, hypertension but dietary deficiencies is not one of them.

Bottom line, DCM is rare. I've only seen it with people feeding unbalanced homemade diets. I've never seen it when feeding good quality commercial cat food. If there is anything else causing DCM in cats these days, I'm not aware.
HCM is very common and one of the most frequently treated heart conditions in cats.

Since you included dogs in the title, I just wanted to point out that DCM in dogs is completely different than what is seen in cats and is not associated with taurine deficiency.

[brewmaster15]

As the resident vet here, I'll tell you what I know about DCM in cats. There may be more than one cause but taurine deficiency is definitely the most common cause. As you noted, most commercial cat foods have added more taurine to the diet. Taurine is an amino acid found in raw meat. DCM is rarely seen any more as a result of cat food companies addressing this issue. I have seen a couple of cases of DCM in cats that were fed exclusively vegan type homemade diets by their owners. The owners actually thought they were feeding a healthier diet but in reality, caused DCM in these cats. By the time the cat starts showing symptoms, it's usually too late to reverse the condition. Taurine deficiency also causes retinal degeneration and can lead to blindness in cats.

HCM or Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy is a much more common type of heart failure in cats. We see those all the time. There can be multiple causes for HCM, hyperthyroidism, obesity, hypertension but dietary deficiencies is not one of them.

Bottom line, DCM is rare. I've only seen it with people feeding unbalanced homemade diets. I've never seen it when feeding good quality commercial cat food. If there is anything else causing DCM in cats these days, I'm not aware.
HCM is very common and one of the most frequently treated heart conditions in cats.

Since you included dogs in the title, I just wanted to point out that DCM in dogs is completely different than what is seen in cats and is not associated with taurine deficiency.

Thanks Steve, I was hoping you would add to the discussion. Definitely not a vet here which is why I encouraged people to talk to theirs.

I agree with the note on the taurine.. ..I wasnt trying to imply that it was related to dcm.in dogs.. just that dcm i n cats was related to Taurine and was addressed with the supplimenting of taurine..

As for how common it is in dogs.. I can not comment on that...

But there seems to be alot of research recently on from the sources cited at the end of the tufts article.

https://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/2023/...snt-gone-away/

Al

[smsimcik]

That Tufts article is very good. Lots of new info I was not aware of in regard to DCM and diet in dogs. Most of the DCM in dogs I've seen is the genetic form. The info on DCM caused by secondary issues like drug reactions, diet, etc is constantly evolving.