Science is always changing
There’s been a lot of uproar and concern about pet food diets, especially grain free and DCM in dogs after the FDA study citing a link between the two.
The truth is, science is messy. We’re always learning new things. Which is great, that’s how we get from the 4 humors and bleeding people to what we call medicine today.
As of June 2020, a literature review was published investigating the link between DCM and grain free diets. The ultimate conclusion? More research is necessary, but it may ultimately be genetically linked.
And that’s frustrating. We want to know more to serve our patients as best as possible. We want definitive answers. But a lot of time, there isn’t one easy answer, and easy fix. Will I recommend grain free diets now after this study? Probably still no. Retrospective studies have their own issues, and the best study on this link would be a long term, prospective study on these diets.
As scientists, we need to keep learning more, and not hold on too tightly to any previous ideas in the case they’re disproven in the past. And as vets, we need to be advocates for our patients, using the most scientifically proven medical recommendations.
I wish science and medicine were more black and white, but more often than not it’s complicated shades of grey.
And even if it is genetically linked…. so what? Not all dogs get renal failure from eating raisins or grapes. Heck, before we knew that could be an issue I used grapes as a training treat for my first dog! He never had kidney issues, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to ever say it’s okay for a dog to have raisins or grapes, because it’s not! A genetic component just makes it more important for dogs to be fed diets that are scientifically tested and have lifetime feeding trials performed.
As someone who works at one of the major pet retailiers, I agree a complete study is needed but in the meantime I wish the veterinarians would stop recommending the crappiest diets we sell.
There has been speculation that the large amount of peas in some of the grain-free diets can deplete taurine levels and cause heart problems. That does not mean you have to feed your dog the junk from the huge conglomerates, full of corn, soy, unnamed protein sources (!) and ingredients from who knows where.
There are limited-ingredient diets that don’t have peas in them, there are companies that have been supplementing their diets with taurine for years, I understand that vets want to recommend what they sell, I get it, but it is not necessarily the best thing for your dog.
That being said, not all dogs need grain-free diets. The best advice I ever read was you should have several diets from different manufacturers that you feed in rotation, as long as your dog doesn’t have particular food sensitivities (and even then it may be possible). Personaly, I switch out my dog’s diet every three bags.
Dogs deserve a little variety, too!
And as a veterinarian I wish retailers would stop contradicting our advice and telling owners to buy expensive boutique diets that are formulated by people with 0 training. We recommend the diets that have a veterinary nutritionist on staff and have done feeding trials to prove that their diets are actually complete and balanced. As opposed to a random small town manufacturer that has no nutrition training but charges $80 a bag because exotic meat is the first ingredient. It’s not about “because we sell it” it’s about recommending diets formulated by actual nutrition experts. If a veterinary nutritionist isn’t formulating boutique diets, who is? What are their qualifications? Personally, I like to know actual experts are formulating the food my pet eats instead of some unknown person who thinks corn is scary.
You’re free to feed your pets how you see fit, but I’m over the hurr durr vets don’t know anything about nutrition bs. Maybe if the majority of the profession recommends something it’s not because we are corrupt or uneducated but maybe because it’s actually a good recommendation??
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ifesbob 