#dogsofcoso
Possible link between BEG diet and canine dilated cardiomyopathy.
https://www.10news.com/news/national/dog-food-disease-dilated-cardiomyopathy
The suspicion is that dogs who are on the BEG diet are being diagnosed with DCM at a higher rate. BEG diets include boutique, exotic and grain-free foods.
Typically, BEG diets include (in the first five listed) ingredients like kangaroo, duck, buffalo, salmon, lamb, bison, venison, lentils, peas, fava beans, tapioca, barley or chickpeas as major ingredients.
In theory, grain free makes sense. Carnivores did not evolve to eat grains, after all.
But as I read labels on “grain free” options at the feed store, I was perplexed. PEAS were not on the evolutionary diet menu either! Neither were the myriad of other non-animal ingredients.
Commercial feeds are never going to re-create an animal’s natural diet, because people couldn’t afford to feed that.
So they swap corn for peas and call it “grain free.”
Yes, indeed.
For a time, back when the Chinese imported ingredients were killing pets, I turned to making all my pet food. I got books and read extensively.
That was hideously expensive, but I didn’t want to add my pets to the death statistics as my go-to feeds were being recalled.
When I read ingredients labels now, I am sometimes tempted to do it again, but the cost to make high quality food is significant.