Is your pet food causing heart disease in your dog?
You may have heard in the news lately that there have been cases of pet food causing heart disease in dogs. Research is still ongoing, but the apparent cause may be due to an imbalanced proportion of potato and legumes (e.g. peas, lentils, garbanzo beans, etc.) added to the diets.
Many of these diets are marketed as expensive "boutique" diets, which may or may not contain grains, i.e. the problem is not necessarily the lack of grains, but is due to the addition of potatoes and legumes in imbalanced proportions. The problem appears to be multifactorial as not every dog is susceptible to developing heart disease due to their food.
Signs of heart disease include lethargy, coughing, increased respiratory rate, troubles breathing, collapse and a distended abdomen, to name a few.
To avoid this problem, we are currently recommending feeding a WSAVA (World Small Animal Veterinary Association) approved diet. These are diets that follow multiple guidelines, for example, they have undergone testing for quality control and balance, have a board certified veterinary nutritionist on staff and have undergone feeding trials.
If you have a favorite dog food, check that they follow the recommended WSAVA guidelines.
The following brands are currently WSAVA-approved:
Hill’s Science Diet
Royal Canin
Purina
Eukanuba
Iams
If you prefer to feed homecooked food to your dog, it is advised to contact a boarded veterinary nutrition specialist.
(Click on links below or visit the WSAVA website- Global Nutrition Guidelines)