Comments

1. 

   Laura

   I would read the studies, honestly. I prefer NOT to feed commercial grain free dog food, as I have found no benefit. My previous dog always had runny stool on grain free, but when I switched her to a grain inclusive food it firmed right up and her coat improved. My current dog is the same way. I prefer not to supplement with pumpkin, and it appears dogs do benefit from the fiber in grain inclusive foods.

   If you DO choose to feed grain free, make sure the ingredients don’t have legumes high on the ingredient list. There seems to be a correlation.

2. 

   Laura

   I sat on this a little more, and wanted to add: DCM is absolutely deadly as a disease. My Doberman had it (the breed is prone to it, so we expected it would happen) and it’s not something for which I’d ever want to increase risk. It presents as two forms – congestive and arrhythmic. Congestive is congestive heart failure, which is the animal literally drowning on their own fluids. Arrhythmic is sudden death. Neither are good, both are fatal.

   Ripley’s form was arrhythmic. She was fine until her first collapse, when she went on medication to treat. In normal situations that would have earned us a few months. We got a miracle of an entire year with her post diagnosis…and she left us in the same way, with a heart attack that killed her instantly. Diagnosis is expensive, as is medication. I can absolutely say I would do whatever I can to avoid it from both an emotional and fiscally responsible standpoint.