Most recent update on the DCM issue. 6-27-19

I'm in Australia where NM DCM is practically unheard of, same in Europe. Is there something unique about American foods? They way they're cooked, ingredients, sourcing etc etc

Rottlady said:

USA a lot of brands large and small have increasingly added legumes (peas, lentils,etc) over the years
It’s a binder and protein booster combined and straight up bad news

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Australian grain frees are no different, our brands have the peas and Legumes too. We also have American grain frees here such as: Orijen, Canidae, Holistic Select, Earthborn, Wellness Core. All of these are in my rotation other than Canidae, I rotate between 8 different kibbles.

nfedyk said:

Christine,
I recently started looking for a new kibble for my puppy as she flat out refused to eat the Pro Plan I was feeding her that was recommended by my breeder. I had heard wonderful things about Farmina. I was very hesitant to use it since it was not made in the US. Yet a member of another forum I belong to who lives overseas responded to my concern and told me the following: "The EU has stricter rules when it comes to dog food than the FDA." So maybe that is why you are not hearing of issues with DCM. I decided to go ahead and order Farmina for my pup. She absolutely loves it.

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Farmina sounds like a great food, and as mentioned EU pet foods have much higher standards. I would definitely feed it if it were available here.

Also, there seems to be 3 main things that the DCM cases seem to have in common.

- The dogs were fed the same kibble every single day, for every single meal. No rotating through other brands.

- They were fed, sometime drastically, under the recommended feeding guidelines on the bag.

- They were were fed very little, or none at all, fresh animal proteins, eg meat/offal/fish/eggs etc

Also something to keep in mind, is that Purina is affiliated with many of these studies... There have been cases of dcm involving the Big 4, which gets hushed or deleted completely from the charts They are benefiting greatly from all of this hysteria and are fanning the flames big time, so take that as you will...

Rottlady said:

Honestly I don’t think any of those have anything to do with it

The vast majority of USA dog owners who feed kibble never rotate brands, never add extras and rarely feed bag suggestions (since most bags suggest far too much)

And
Only dogs affected are those who’ve been fed foods containing legumes (93+%) or foods that either had potato as the#1 ingredient or coupled with legumes(42%)

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There have been quite a few cases involving the Big 4, which quickly get hushed.. Also, vets have discouraged owners from reporting DCM to the FDA if they arent specifically on a grain free food.