We had follow up Xray’s for our 11-year-old Leonberger Prada who was diagnosed with Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) back in March. Her heart at that time measured 13.5 (normal for her size is 10.5) but only 5 months later, her heart measured 11.2! She has been on Purina Proplan Salmon and Rice since January. She was followed up as she has had a cough and fast breathing, but it turns out that her Xrays now showed bronchitis but not too bad to be needing treatment. She has no tumours in chest or heart, so we are beyond relieved! The change in her heart measurements was amazing. Her cough is mostly when rising after sleeping and due to the mucus in her lungs.
Due to the current risk of Dietary DCM, board certified veterinary nutritionists recommend a grain inclusive, size and age-appropriate diet from brands that lead the industry in areas WSAVA (world small animal veterinary association) identifies as important. This includes their employment of qualified experts, their use of full-time nutritionists for formulation, their quality control standards, use of long-term feeding trials before releasing products to the public, and their activity in research. The ONLY brands that currently do, are Royal Canin, Hill’s, Eukanuba, IAMS, and Purina (in no particular order, and any Purina, not just pro plan). We buy our Proplan from Zooplus which is a lot cheaper and delivered to our door.
For a lot more information, science and facts, please join the Facebook Group, Diet-Associated Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) in Dogs. There are many many cases of dogs that have had their hearts healed through a change of food to one of the above properly formulated and tested brands
Note that many boutique food brands (including Acana, Kirkland/Costco, Fromm, Nutrisource, Orijen, Stella & Chewy, Taste of the Wild, Victor, Wellness, Zignature), homecooked and raw diets, including commercial cooked and raw, are all implicated in cases of diet associated dilated cardiomyopathy. This includes versions of these brands WITH grains and versions of these brands with NO legumes at all.
They — and many other boutique diets — fail to meet the standards set by the World Small Animal Veterinary Association and lack proper research in formulation and would not be recommended. For the most part, all are under-researched, under-tested and marketing-based brands.
If anyone wishes to see Prada’s Xrays , please ask. Please do research this to be able to do the best for your own dog and give it a longer and healthier lifespan.
