User:Osad3840/Dog food

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In 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) identified 16 dog food brands linked to canine heart disease. The FDA has investigated more than 500 cases of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in dogs eating food marketed as grain-free. The 16 brands are: Acana, Zignature, Taste of the Wild, 4Health, Earthborn Holistic, Blue Buffalo, Nature's Domain, Fromm, Merrick, California Natural, Natural Balance, Orijen, Nature's Variety, NutriSource, Nutro, and Rachael Ray Nutrish. These brands are labeled as "grain-free" and list peas, lentils, or potatoes as the main ingredient. The top three brands associated with reports of cardiomyopathy are Acana with 67 reports, Zignature with 64, and Taste of the Wild with 53 reports. Manufacturing, boutique diets and various toxins incorporated into grain-free diets are important to consider.

In July of the year prior, the FDA had released a general statement that had detailed a potential correlation between leguminous and/or potato-based (i.e. listed as one of the primary 10 ingredients prior to micronutrients) dog food and DCM in primarily large male dogs. Although various large and/or giant breed dogs carry known mutagenic inheritance to DCM, nutritional forms of the disease have been empirically recorded since 1995. Naturally, while breed-specific DCM may be prevented with selective breeding, it is found that some breeds will also possess dietary requirements for specific micronutrients (i.e. amino acids). Individual consideration indiscriminately of breed may also be necessary when feeding nontraditional diets. There are still few accepted studies validating the effects of brand name grain-free diets on DCM development and few brands publish AAFCO content for evaluation.

If dietary deficiencies are the suspected etiological factor, taurine and carnitine supplementation may be necessary. Whole blood or plasma, urine, skeletal, or cardiac muscle biopsy may be needed to assess deficiency in either micronutrient, respectively. Dietary, or taurine-deficient DCM is associated largely with diets lacking sufficient crude protein, taurine, and sulfuric amino derivative absorption - this is found in various studies of fiber supplementation or urate stone-preventative diets. Dogs that had been transitioned to traditional from nontraditional diets generally indicate an expected improvement in echocardiographic data, Various breeds have already been confirmed to have supplementation-responsive improvements to quality of life following taurine and/or carnitine supplementation.

It may be important to consider that various etiological origins may cause DCM: myocarditis, endocrinal abnormalities, toxin ingestion and severe arrhythmia may also impact myocardium efficiency. Studies are currently still undergoing. Post-diagnostic survival rates in both traditional and nontraditional conditions will generally only vary slightly, but the diagnosis of comorbid congestive heart failure (CHF) was lesser in dogs preliminarily fed traditional diets with sufficient taurine. Some breeds of dog, such as Labrador Retrievers have also been observed to having taurine status immune to nontraditional dietary influence under a 26 week experimental duration, implying that cardiac function must be evaluated in intimate detail beyond physiological effects if DCM is suspected. Further studies are necessary in order to solidify the correlation - if any - between nutrient-deficient DCM and micronutrients thiamine, copper, potassium, Vitamin E, and selenium. However, it is important to consider the correlations made between various name-brand diets such as Acana or Zignature in the perpetration of dilated cardiomyopathy in dogs.