Fatal Heart Ailment in Dogs: FDA Continues to Investigate Its Link to Canine Diet

A report said it was only by chance that veterinarians discovered that Sophie, the beloved black Labrador of Martha Martin, had developed a possibly fatal heart ailment.

Initially, according to NBC News, the dog was undergoing treatment due to a snake bite when the veterinarian discovered an irregular heart rhythm and ordered up a procedure called echocardiogram.

Martin recalled saying that she'll never forget when the veterinarian told her and asked her if she was feeding the dog with a grain-free dog food.

Indeed, this news report specified, the seven-year-old dog had been eating a similar brand of grain-free dog food since she was a puppy, as Bailey, the other dog of Martin had.

In connection to this, an echocardiogram showed that nine-year-old Bailey also had the onsets of DCM or dilated cardiomyopathy.

Martin changed the food of both dogs, one that had grain, with a hope that might help treat their hearts. In the over two years, since the first warning of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to dog owners about heart failure in their pets that had been linked to grain-free pet foods, over 200 dogs have reportedly died from the ailment. Scientists are still trying to find out the reason for such an occurrence.

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(Photo: Leon Neal/Getty Images)
Previous research shows a possible link between diet and the heart disease in dogs is a multifaceted issue in the field of science that may engage several factors.

'Dilated Cardiomyopathy' Developed

A study has proposed that ingredients used in dog foods to replace grains might have something to do with the development of dilated cardiomyopathy.

DCM is an illness which the heart is getting larger, leaving it weaker. Certain breeds of large dogs are said to be genetically vulnerable to the condition. These breeds include German shepherds, Great Danes and Doberman pinschers, the VCA Animal Hospitals said.

According to Monique Richards, spokesperson at the FDA, most of the said diets linked to the reports of non-hereditary DCM contain legume seed ingredients also called pulses, for example, lentils and peas, are high in their lists of ingredients.

The spokesperson added, even though soy is considered a legume, they did not see any sign linked to this ingredient. The issue, she continued, may be the amount of ingredients used in nontraditional canine diets.

Earlier Warning from the FDA

Earlier on, in June 2019, the FDA issued an announcement saying that in 2018, it had started with its investigation of reports of canine DCM in dogs that ate certain pet foods, a lot of them labeled as 'grain-free.'

Many of these case reports comprised breeds of dogs not known to have any genetic predisposition to the illness in the past.

The Center for Veterinary Medicine of the FDA, as well as the Veterinary Laboratory Investigation Response Network, an alliance of government and veterinary diagnostic laboratories, has continued investigating this possible link.

Based on their collected and analyzed data, the agency believes that the possible link between diet and heart disease in dogs is a multifaceted issue in the field of science that may engage several factors.

Increase Number of Dogs with DCM

According to veterinary nutritionist and professor, Dr. Luis Freeman at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, their December 2020 study published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine entitled "Retrospective study of dilated cardiomyopathy in dogs" was a retrospective observation of 75 dogs with DMC over a period of time and that was just less than five years.

One of the new findings in their study, the expert said, was that there was a significant rise over time in the number of dogs having DCM. That rise started even prior to the first warning of the FDA. WPTV News, as seen on the YouTube Video below, came out with a similar report in 2019.

To date, the hasn't been any recommendation from the FDA for a recall of any grain-free dog food product. Neither has the agency made any declaration of any particular pet food product being unsafe.

In a statement Pet Food Institute issued in response to the issue on DCM in dogs, it said member nutritionists, veterinarians and product safety specialists of the PFI, have been closely investigating DCM to better understand if it there is a link between the condition and diet in dogs not hereditarily predisposed to illness.

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