Cruz’s HEART improved in just 19 days with a CHANGE from GRAIN FREE DIET to GRAIN INCLUSIVE which created “a substantial improvement in the cardiac chamber sizes & function based on Cruz’s echocardiogram. This helped to confirm the diagnosis of Nutritional Cardiomyopathy”

Diet Associated (DCM) is a serious disease of the heart muscle which causes the heart to beat more weakly and to enlarge.

The improvement in a dog’s heart after diet change is one of the features that alerted cardiologists to the current diet-associated DCM problem.

The hearts of dogs with secondary DCM due to nutritional causes can improve with diet change, something we don’t see in dogs with primary DCM.

The other concern of a recent rise in DCM cases was that it was being diagnosed in dog breeds that don’t usually develop DCM.

The nutritional causes of secondary DCM can be nutrient deficiencies (such as taurine or vitamin B1 deficiency) but also can be levels of nutrients or other dietary compounds that are too high (such as heavy metal toxicity).

Research has now shown that these diets are commonly grain-free commercial dry diets that contain pulses &, to a lesser extent, potatoes or sweet potatoes.

Pulses are peas, lentils, chickpeas, & dry beans. While pulses are part of the legume family, soy (another legume) has not been associated with this problem. Some research suggests that peas may be most associated with this form of DCM, but this may just reflect the fact that peas are used more commonly in dog foods compared to other pulses.

Many have linked diet-associated DCM with grain-free diets. In fact, it appears to be more closely associated with diets containing pulses, rather than with the presence or absence of grains in a diet.

Most dogs with diet-associated DCM have been eating non-traditional diets for over one year (sometimes many years), so DCM does not seem to develop immediately after eating these diets & not every dog that eats these diets develops heart problems.

If your dog develops DCM, please report it to the FDA to help the ongoing investigation.