When she finally got the call saying Odin had moderate to severe DCM, her next step was to take him back to the veterinarian for an echocardiogram. “I waited two agonizing, tearful weeks for those test results to come back,” Denman said. Denman heard about DCM through her dog breeder and felt she needed to get Odin tested for DCM. Odin was 2 1/2 years old at the time of his diagnosis. “I would lay awake, night after night, just to listen to him breathe and to make sure he was still alive,” Denman said. The FDA is investigating the link with DCM in dogs eating certain pet foods, many labeled as “grain-free,” which contain a high proportion of peas, lentils, other legume seeds (pulses) and/or potatoes in various forms (whole, flour, protein, etc.) as main ingredients, according to the FDA.ĭiane Denman’s golden retriever, Odin, was diagnosed with nutritional-mediated DCM in September 2017. Orvalho also said that most of the dogs they had seen were diagnosed with DCM during their vet visit, yet most of them were not genetically predisposed to DCM. Orvalho told Demarici that cardiologists had been seeing an uptick in vet visits for dogs who were being fed grain-free diets. Joao Orvalho, a veterinarian at UC Medical Center, explained that he suspected Bob was on a grain-free diet. After waiting three hours, the cardiologist asked Demarici what she had been feeding him.ĭr. The brand Bob was eating is called Taste of the Wild, one of the brands named most frequently in DCM cases reported to the FDA.ĭemarici took Bob to a cardiologist at a satellite office of University of California Davis in San Diego for an echocardiogram, an image of the heart’s movement. Here was a seemingly very healthy dog running around literally the night before, and then he had progressed so quickly that within one week, he was dead.”īob was eating grain-free food just as George was. “We were in complete shock of what happened. They tried to do CPR, but they just couldn’t bring him back,” Demarici said. While at the cardiologist’s office for a follow-up, Bob passed away. Juliana Demarici lost her 4 ½-year-old mixed breed, Bob, to a fatal arrhythmia associated with suspected nutritional DCM on May 22, 2019, just a week after the dog had been diagnosed.īob did not have any genetic predisposition for DCM. The possible symptoms of DCM include lethargy, weakness, weight loss, fainting, coughing, increased respiratory rate and abdominal distraction, according to an article by the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University. There are many symptoms that come with DCM however, these symptoms usually do not show up until it is too late to save the dog’s life.įor George, it was a cough that made Gentile worry that there was something wrong. This means the nutritional side of DCM is causing more issues than even the genetic predisposition to it. This graph shows that dogs which are not genetically predisposed are having the highest reports of DCM. The breeds that are genetically predisposed to DCM include the Doberman pinscher, Great Dane, boxer and cocker spaniel, according to Medline Plus. George ate Acana dog food his whole life this grain-free dog food caused George’s heart failure, according to his veterinarian, Dr. George was diagnosed with nutritional DCM in May of 2020. On average, German shepherds live between nine to 13 years and are not genetically predisposed to DCM. Jennifer Gentile was shocked when her relatively young and healthy 4 1/2-year-old German Shepherd, George, suddenly became ill. If it was proven to be genetic, that would mean a dog’s bloodline has had a history of DCM, according to the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. If the cause was nutritional, then the DCM in the canine would be from their diet. A possible link between expensive pet food and a potentially fatal heart condition, dilated cardiomyopathy, in dogs has left some owners grieving and others angry due to the misleading information from pet food brands.ĭCM is a heart disease that decreases the ability of the heart to pump blood through the vascular system.ĭCM can be caused by a few different factors, but the main two are nutritional and genetic.
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