04/16/2024
Skye thoroughly enjoyed her belly rubs from Dr. Brown at her visit yesterday! 😊 She is a definite success story! ❤️
Skye first came to our office a year ago for coughing and an enlarged heart. Her echocardiogram showed severe heart disease (dilated cardiomyopathy / DCM). DCM is a disease characterized by significant loss of pumping function (myocardial failure) that leads to heart enlargement and heart failure. DCM can happen if a dog carries the genetic mutation for the disease, in which case the disease is incurable and progressive.
However, DCM-like changes can also be seen in dogs eating diets containing high levels of peas, chickpeas, pea fibers, lentils and other legumes. These ingredients are most commonly found in grain-free formulations of dog foods. It is thought that these specific ingredients lead to a toxicity over time that affects the heart muscle and causes myocardial failure.
When we first saw Skye, she had been eating one of these diets so she was immediately transitioned to a diet that did not include these ingredients. She was also started on several heart medications to support her heart function and to attempt to keep her out of heart failure.
It’s impossible to know for sure whether an individual has the genetic form of DCM versus nutritional DCM until response to medications/diet change can be documented. The former will not improve and will continue to progress, while the latter can sometimes improve or resolve completely with a diet change and medications.
Thankfully, Skye responded very well to the diet change and medications and we saw gradual improvement in her heart dimensions and function over the past year. Yesterday’s echocardiogram showed that her heart is now back to a normal size with normal function! This is the absolute best case scenario and (sadly) doesn’t happen for every dog who has nutritional DCM.
Not all dogs who eats these diets will develop heart disease, but pet owners should be aware of the potential risks of feeding diets high in these specific ingredients. They are still widely available in pet food stores so make sure to read the ingredient labels.
We were so happy to give Skye’s owner the good news! She was also happy to start safely cutting back on her medications 😊❤️
Veterinary Cardiology Consultants is a veterinary specialty practice that is 100% focused on diagnosing and treating cardiac disease in pets.
