Canine dilated cardiomyopathy dogs - In
Memoriam: their stories - Part 3
Welcome back my friends in our lsat part ot real dog stories who had died from Canine dilated cardiomyopathy because of bad foods , let us continue reading ....
14- Harley owned by Andrea Eby. DCM, diet suspect Acana
This is our dog, Harley. He was a 2 1/2 year old healthy Rottweiler... this picture was taken 1 week before he died and 3 weeks after he was diagnosed with Dilated Cardiomyopathy...he died Aug 8 2018. To say we are devastated is an understatement. He was the most lovable well adjusted dog who made our family complete. Everyone who met him instantly fell in love with him and he helped change many peoples views on Rottweilers! Even my mother!! Who he loved to sit on her lap:) All 100lbs of him.
Harley was on ACANA grain free Duck and Pear...for no other reason but I thought it was a good food as our other dog was on it for his allergies. My ignorance cost Harley his life...we had NO idea the implications that this food would have and did have.
Harley was fine until he wasn't...after many tests and vet visits and ultrasounds and ECG's and blood work, taurine test(plasma test which was normal)... he was diagnosed with DCM...I had never heard of it nor had any idea that it could have been caused by the food that we were feeding him. Immediately he was put on meds to help drain the fluid from his lungs, bring down his heart beat and help him return to his almost old self. He was doing what we thought
much better. Energy back, eating, playing and helping us in the garden (he did the digging;)...he died suddenly at home 3 weeks after he was diagnosed. He was having a great day, played with his dog buddies with his favourite dog walker and was as happy as could be...we loved him more than we thought we could myself, my partner and our 4 kids...
I share our story because we never thought this could happen to us...we had NO idea. Guilt, sadness, anger, emptiness are all the emotions that we don't want anyone else to have to feel like we do.
Please check your dogs, check what they are eating...do your homework on whats best for your dog
15- Emma Nelson-Eberhardy, Died 11/13/17 of DCM. Diet California Naturals
Story of loss from Denise Nelson-Eberhardy
Emma our Catahoula Leppard mix was diagnosed with DCM and CHF in Septemer 2017 at 6 years old. We took her to the ER on September 17 2017 because she developed a cough the day before. It became worse and we realized we could not wait until Monday when our primary vet was open. Emma struggled to breath and was immediately put on oxygen. They recommended their cardiologist to evaluate Emma. We brought Emma home but she was declining rapidly. She went from being an active dog to one that couldn't even get up to do basic every day activities. A week or so went by and the meds seemed to be working. Then she got worse again and her meds were increased. This cycle went on until November 13. 2017 when Emma passed away. We had to make the very difficult decision to euthanize her. Our hearts were broken. After not 2 months from being diagnosed our 6 year old baby girl was gone.
Then in January 2018 our hearts were broken once again. Our other dog Jake was diagnosed with the same thing. Please look for Jake's story under the recovery section.
16 - Darren Adam's Chili, died 3 mo after DCM diagnosis. Ate Acana prior.
It is with great sadness that I report another dog lost to DCM, after eating a type of diet correlated with many other DCM cases. Our condolences to Darren Adam and the rest of Chili's family.
For those of you new to this group, please note that Chili seemed normal until the day that day he first collapsed. Darren is giving permission to share their painful story in the hopes it saves other families from the agony.
Chili's story: Our boy Chilli passed away last week from the DCM and CHF that he was diagnosed with in October. Chilli was just 5 and a half years old and up until that first collapse was the epitome of health and fitness.
Chilli was fed Acana Singles food most of his life. We would alternate between the Duck and the Lamb recipes. Chilli had a bit of a sensitive stomach but did well on this food. The ingredients were wholesome sounding and locally sourced - Bartlett pears, apples etc. The food was expensive and it was recommended by the boutique dogs food chain in our neighborhood. I really thought I was doing the best for Chilli.
The past three months of decline and ultimately death have been a nightmare for our family. My physical and mental health has been affected through it all and I have to admit that there was a sense of relief that came with Chilli’s passing; that our suffering was finally over.
Our cardiologist believes that because Chilli did not respond to treatment that it was unlikely that his condition was related to diet. I think knowing that his condition was just a bit of genetic bad luck would be easier to deal with than the alternative. However, I just can’t believe it when I look at all the data collected so far on dogs eating Acana that he would coincidentally develop DCM. I expect that over time they will figure out why this is happening and that companies like Acana will be held to account.
Chilli was such a wonderful dog and companion and member of our family. He will be missed.
Admin note: when a dog's DCM is already severe at time of diagnosis, it is sometimes too late for recovery. Chili passed only 3 mo after diagnosis so had little opportunity to improve with diet change. Vizslas rarely have a genetic susceptibility to DCM, hence the FDA definitely looks at the reports of cases like this. Preliminary information on case reports we are seeing suggests that eating certain Acana formulas may turn out to be a significant risk factor for DCM regardless of breed.
17- Michele Hoyer's Minnie, ate Kirkland Nature's Domain before DCM
Michele Hoyer has agreed to share her story of her dog Minnie.
Minnie was a Great Dane. We know that Danes can sometimes have genetic DCM. None of Minnie's littermates have DCM to this day. Her onset of DCM was at a younger age than Danes typically get genetic-based DCM. Her cardiologist suspected nutritionally-mediated DCM.
Their story:
_______________________________________________
I want to thank you for giving me a place to share my grief and guilt. This was my precious baby girl. Her name was Minnie. She was the most wonderful, gentle, loving little angel. When she was 1 1/2 she started to lose weight and became extremely lethargic. We brought her to a specialist and she was diagnosed with Addisons Disease. Once we started her injections she began to run around and chase her little brother Bernie. She sat on us and layed on me every night. We heard grain free was the healthy choice and we would do anything for our babies. She saw her doctors monthly for her injections. She was 3 1/2 when her breathing became irregular and appeared to have a urinary infection. We rushed her in and to our horror we were informed that she was in heart failure. We started lots of meds.. 20 in the morning 20 more in the evening.. I was scared to go to work. Just kept counting her breaths. The vet asked about her diet.. I had never heard of DCM.. Things looked up for a couple weeks and I started to believe she would get better. I ordered another month of meds. Then she had a rough night so I took her to the vet hospital, her feet were cold.. They took her back right away I sat in the waiting room all morning crying, feeling my heart breaking. They removed a liter of liquid from around her heart, but it was to late she was in complete heart failure. I curled up around my baby praying, the vet said they could try more meds, but that it would best to let her go. I sang you are my sunshine as she passed. It was November 17th and I'm still crying myself. I miss her everyday. I feed her Kirkland grain free.. I didn't know and I will never forgive myself..
18- CJ owned by Colleen Landborg, lost to DCM after eating Zignature :
Just wanted to share my sad news that our CJ passed away in his sleep last night, nine months after being diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy. The heart meds bought us some extra time when he was first diagnosed and we were told he only had two months at most. I want to thank everyone in this group for their kindness, wisdom and knowledge. I am so thankful I found this group because I had no idea other people were going through this. I will keep all of you and your fur babies in my prayers and wish the best for everyone. Thank you for your friendship.
19 - Tonya Hudson, 3 St Bernards eating Diamond products: Kirkland &4Health:
My 3 babies I lost to DCM. A day doesnt go by that I dont feel guilty. I wish I could've saved them
20- Korg owned and loved by Janet Lidel. DCM after eating Earthborne:
Good Morning, I am new to this group and last week i posted this picture of my boy that i suddenly lost to DCM at the age of 3 years 8 months old last March. I was overwhelmed and brought to heartache by all of your caring comments. I would now like to re post the story of my best friend Korg. On a Sundat Korg had a slight strange sounding cough. I took him to my primary vet and a chest xray showed an enlarged heart and fluid in his chest. We went directly to a Cardiologist about an hour away where he was immediately admitted to ICU. He was under the care of the cardiologist for 4 days in ICU and an Echocardiogram confirmed that he had DCM. During this time his breathing was very labored and he scratched his neck out like a giraffe to try to get air into his body. Korg was not responding to treatment and we had to make the decision to let him go on Thursday. He was fed a grain free diet. This was a new disease to me and he will forever be my baby angel.
21- Duncan, RIP. Loved by Lisa Davis. Diet California Naturals:
I celebrate every story of a dog with DCM having improvement or resolution of their DCM with a change in diet. Thank goodness that the link to suspect diets has been made. I hope that more dogs will be saved with being switched off of BEG diets. I wish that the link had been made in time to help my golden, Duncan.
I met Duncan when he was a year old. I am a veterinarian and Duncan came to me via his foster family, clients of mine, when his original owner developed cancer and could not take care of him anymore. Duncan was the biggest and smartest golden that I have ever had in my life.
Duncan came to me already eating a non-WSAVA compliant diet and with the warning that he had a very sensitive digestive tract and needed to be on that food (Natural Balance Lamb and Rice). In less than a year, he no longer tolerated that food either. After he started having problems, I was given a sample of California Natural Venison grain-free and Duncan did very well on that, based upon his digestive tract.
California Natural changed the Venison grain-free to Venison and Lentil grain-free about a year and a half after Duncan had been eating it, with the marketing ploy “never potatoes”. The new formula contained what I call “every lentil known to dogs” and I suspected that the switch was made by California Natural to allow the guaranteed analysis to state that the protein level in the food was just as high but allowing them to reduce the amount of venison in the formula.
Duncan did not do as well on that and I suspected the fiber in the legumes because I was aware of at least one study showing that large breed dogs would have softer stools on diets that contained a lot of the type of fiber present in legumes. No other health conclusion had been made about the consequences of that.
Duncan ate the new formula of California Natural for about one and ¾ years before I found a heart murmur on his fifth birthday. I had listened to his heart two weeks earlier during a bout of digestive upset and he had not had a heart murmur that day. He had an echocardiogram with a cardiologist a few days later, which confirmed that he had severe DCM. His whole blood taurine level was taken the same day and was 303.
Since Duncan did not have a low taurine level, and since the link to BEG diets had not yet been made, I did not change his diet off of grain-free. I did switch to Solid Gold Buck Wild because it was potato based and had the potatoes listed before the onslaught of legume ingredients. He did better on this than on the California Natural, once again based upon his reduced episodes of digestive upset. I did supplement with Royal Canin Prescription Select Protein PV canned, but not the dry due to shortages of the food at the time.
I did supplement taurine and had him on all of the usual medications as prescribed by his two cardiologists (enalapril, Vetmedin, spironolactone, digoxin, hydrochlorthiazide, diltiazem, omega 3 fatty acids, l-carnitine, coQ10) and verified that his treats and food were fairly low sodium. Duncan survived for another 15 months, and I am grateful that we had that much time. I know that many have not been that lucky.
Duncan was playful on the day that he died and passed away in his sleep, most likely due to a fatal arrhythmia. The only death that could have been better for him would have been if he had sudden death while he was chasing a rabbit or swimming. That would have been a lot harder on me.
It has taken me four months to tell Duncan’s story in its entirety. It has been a hard four months, because each new revelation about diet-associated DCM has made me feel so guilty that I killed him with his diet. He died 9 days before Dr. Stern’s announcement that he was studying taurine-deficient DCM in golden retrievers. No link had been made to BEG diets yet. I could not possibly have known what the specialists did not know. However, Duncan is the first of my dogs or cats that I EVER fed a non-WSAVA diet to. And he will be the last.
So I share my long story about Duncan with the hopes that his story will help someone else and many more dogs. Here’s to a New Year with no new cases of diet-associated DCM.
22- Abby. Severe DCM after eating Kirkland Nature's Domain Salmon :
Abby
:( RIP
Diet: Kirkland Nature's Domain Salmon
23- Julie Carter's Oliver. Died at age 4 after eating Zignature.
Oliver's Story
Today has been a rough day. Exactly one month ago, we lost our beloved Oliver to Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM). He had just turned 4 years old and was a proud study enrolled Hero in the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study (GRLS). Oliver collapsed and died on my kitchen floor from a fatal arrhythmia. Something I now understand goes hand in hand with DCM.
Although I’m thankful that Oliver didn’t suffer, the manner in which he died was excruciatingly painful for us. Despite being less than 5 feet away when he dropped to the floor, there was nothing my husband or I could do to save him. He was gone in a matter of seconds, leaving us no time to say goodbye or accept what was happening.
DCM is a cruel and deceptive disease. From the day he was diagnosed to the day he died, Oliver looked and acted like the picture of health. He was strong, playful, energetic and completely asymptomatic. Our only clue there was a problem came when a heart murmur was detected during a GRLS vet visit. Within days, Oliver was at the cardiologist having blood work for a Taurine test (which came back at 209) and an echocardiogram. He was diagnosed with Dilated Cardiomyopathy that day and our lives were turned upside down. His cardiologist prescribed multiple cardiac medications and supplements while advising an immediate diet change. By his next meal, we began switching him to a grain inclusive, legume-free dog food and started giving him the prescribed medications and supplements.
For almost 3 years, Oliver was fed a grain-free limited ingredient kibble. The brand and type of food I chose was based on several pet store employee recommendations, as opposed to what my Veterinarian had suggested. I trusted the wrong people with my dog’s nutrition and he paid the price for my ignorance.
Oliver had his last echocardiogram the day before he died. Although his heart was still enlarged, the strength with which it was contracting had improved, leading his Cardiology team and our family to be cautiously optimistic. His heart gave us no indication of what was going to happen in less than 24 hours.
Although additional time and research is needed to determine the exact correlation between certain diets and DCM, there is no doubt dogs are now being diagnosed at an alarming rate. And, while some dogs have shown improvement with proper treatment, others like Oliver, Jax, Bruin, Abby and Harley have died, leaving their heartbroken families completely shattered.
If you believe your dog looks too healthy to have heart disease, think again. If you think your dog can’t have Taurine Deficient DCM because they aren’t acting ill, please think again. Oliver looked and acted perfectly normal until the moment he died.
Please be your dog’s advocate and spare your family the grief my family is suffering from. Educate yourself by reading everything in the FILES section on this Facebook page. Then, spread awareness wherever you go in order to help educate others. TAKE it, SHARE it and RUN with it! Together, we can be the change that will save lives.
24- A tribute to Abby, lost too young at less than 5 years of age
Abby ate Zignature for 2 years prior to her death from DCM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXivKVbzgbI&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0-1B3TzbQ0NPNukQb-_Gdpj7047Vf3K5YKPvCXiHGuNLKCFwHBmViQtsU
This is our dog, Harley. He was a 2 1/2 year old healthy Rottweiler... this picture was taken 1 week before he died and 3 weeks after he was diagnosed with Dilated Cardiomyopathy...he died Aug 8 2018. To say we are devastated is an understatement. He was the most lovable well adjusted dog who made our family complete. Everyone who met him instantly fell in love with him and he helped change many peoples views on Rottweilers! Even my mother!! Who he loved to sit on her lap:) All 100lbs of him.
Harley was on ACANA grain free Duck and Pear...for no other reason but I thought it was a good food as our other dog was on it for his allergies. My ignorance cost Harley his life...we had NO idea the implications that this food would have and did have.
Harley was fine until he wasn't...after many tests and vet visits and ultrasounds and ECG's and blood work, taurine test(plasma test which was normal)... he was diagnosed with DCM...I had never heard of it nor had any idea that it could have been caused by the food that we were feeding him. Immediately he was put on meds to help drain the fluid from his lungs, bring down his heart beat and help him return to his almost old self. He was doing what we thought
much better. Energy back, eating, playing and helping us in the garden (he did the digging;)...he died suddenly at home 3 weeks after he was diagnosed. He was having a great day, played with his dog buddies with his favourite dog walker and was as happy as could be...we loved him more than we thought we could myself, my partner and our 4 kids...
I share our story because we never thought this could happen to us...we had NO idea. Guilt, sadness, anger, emptiness are all the emotions that we don't want anyone else to have to feel like we do.
Please check your dogs, check what they are eating...do your homework on whats best for your dog
15- Emma Nelson-Eberhardy, Died 11/13/17 of DCM. Diet California Naturals
Story of loss from Denise Nelson-Eberhardy
Emma our Catahoula Leppard mix was diagnosed with DCM and CHF in Septemer 2017 at 6 years old. We took her to the ER on September 17 2017 because she developed a cough the day before. It became worse and we realized we could not wait until Monday when our primary vet was open. Emma struggled to breath and was immediately put on oxygen. They recommended their cardiologist to evaluate Emma. We brought Emma home but she was declining rapidly. She went from being an active dog to one that couldn't even get up to do basic every day activities. A week or so went by and the meds seemed to be working. Then she got worse again and her meds were increased. This cycle went on until November 13. 2017 when Emma passed away. We had to make the very difficult decision to euthanize her. Our hearts were broken. After not 2 months from being diagnosed our 6 year old baby girl was gone.
Then in January 2018 our hearts were broken once again. Our other dog Jake was diagnosed with the same thing. Please look for Jake's story under the recovery section.
16 - Darren Adam's Chili, died 3 mo after DCM diagnosis. Ate Acana prior.
It is with great sadness that I report another dog lost to DCM, after eating a type of diet correlated with many other DCM cases. Our condolences to Darren Adam and the rest of Chili's family.
For those of you new to this group, please note that Chili seemed normal until the day that day he first collapsed. Darren is giving permission to share their painful story in the hopes it saves other families from the agony.
Chili's story: Our boy Chilli passed away last week from the DCM and CHF that he was diagnosed with in October. Chilli was just 5 and a half years old and up until that first collapse was the epitome of health and fitness.
Chilli was fed Acana Singles food most of his life. We would alternate between the Duck and the Lamb recipes. Chilli had a bit of a sensitive stomach but did well on this food. The ingredients were wholesome sounding and locally sourced - Bartlett pears, apples etc. The food was expensive and it was recommended by the boutique dogs food chain in our neighborhood. I really thought I was doing the best for Chilli.
The past three months of decline and ultimately death have been a nightmare for our family. My physical and mental health has been affected through it all and I have to admit that there was a sense of relief that came with Chilli’s passing; that our suffering was finally over.
Our cardiologist believes that because Chilli did not respond to treatment that it was unlikely that his condition was related to diet. I think knowing that his condition was just a bit of genetic bad luck would be easier to deal with than the alternative. However, I just can’t believe it when I look at all the data collected so far on dogs eating Acana that he would coincidentally develop DCM. I expect that over time they will figure out why this is happening and that companies like Acana will be held to account.
Chilli was such a wonderful dog and companion and member of our family. He will be missed.
Admin note: when a dog's DCM is already severe at time of diagnosis, it is sometimes too late for recovery. Chili passed only 3 mo after diagnosis so had little opportunity to improve with diet change. Vizslas rarely have a genetic susceptibility to DCM, hence the FDA definitely looks at the reports of cases like this. Preliminary information on case reports we are seeing suggests that eating certain Acana formulas may turn out to be a significant risk factor for DCM regardless of breed.
17- Michele Hoyer's Minnie, ate Kirkland Nature's Domain before DCM
Michele Hoyer has agreed to share her story of her dog Minnie.
Minnie was a Great Dane. We know that Danes can sometimes have genetic DCM. None of Minnie's littermates have DCM to this day. Her onset of DCM was at a younger age than Danes typically get genetic-based DCM. Her cardiologist suspected nutritionally-mediated DCM.
Their story:
_______________________________________________
I want to thank you for giving me a place to share my grief and guilt. This was my precious baby girl. Her name was Minnie. She was the most wonderful, gentle, loving little angel. When she was 1 1/2 she started to lose weight and became extremely lethargic. We brought her to a specialist and she was diagnosed with Addisons Disease. Once we started her injections she began to run around and chase her little brother Bernie. She sat on us and layed on me every night. We heard grain free was the healthy choice and we would do anything for our babies. She saw her doctors monthly for her injections. She was 3 1/2 when her breathing became irregular and appeared to have a urinary infection. We rushed her in and to our horror we were informed that she was in heart failure. We started lots of meds.. 20 in the morning 20 more in the evening.. I was scared to go to work. Just kept counting her breaths. The vet asked about her diet.. I had never heard of DCM.. Things looked up for a couple weeks and I started to believe she would get better. I ordered another month of meds. Then she had a rough night so I took her to the vet hospital, her feet were cold.. They took her back right away I sat in the waiting room all morning crying, feeling my heart breaking. They removed a liter of liquid from around her heart, but it was to late she was in complete heart failure. I curled up around my baby praying, the vet said they could try more meds, but that it would best to let her go. I sang you are my sunshine as she passed. It was November 17th and I'm still crying myself. I miss her everyday. I feed her Kirkland grain free.. I didn't know and I will never forgive myself..
18- CJ owned by Colleen Landborg, lost to DCM after eating Zignature :
Just wanted to share my sad news that our CJ passed away in his sleep last night, nine months after being diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy. The heart meds bought us some extra time when he was first diagnosed and we were told he only had two months at most. I want to thank everyone in this group for their kindness, wisdom and knowledge. I am so thankful I found this group because I had no idea other people were going through this. I will keep all of you and your fur babies in my prayers and wish the best for everyone. Thank you for your friendship.
19 - Tonya Hudson, 3 St Bernards eating Diamond products: Kirkland &4Health:
My 3 babies I lost to DCM. A day doesnt go by that I dont feel guilty. I wish I could've saved them
20- Korg owned and loved by Janet Lidel. DCM after eating Earthborne:
Good Morning, I am new to this group and last week i posted this picture of my boy that i suddenly lost to DCM at the age of 3 years 8 months old last March. I was overwhelmed and brought to heartache by all of your caring comments. I would now like to re post the story of my best friend Korg. On a Sundat Korg had a slight strange sounding cough. I took him to my primary vet and a chest xray showed an enlarged heart and fluid in his chest. We went directly to a Cardiologist about an hour away where he was immediately admitted to ICU. He was under the care of the cardiologist for 4 days in ICU and an Echocardiogram confirmed that he had DCM. During this time his breathing was very labored and he scratched his neck out like a giraffe to try to get air into his body. Korg was not responding to treatment and we had to make the decision to let him go on Thursday. He was fed a grain free diet. This was a new disease to me and he will forever be my baby angel.
21- Duncan, RIP. Loved by Lisa Davis. Diet California Naturals:
I celebrate every story of a dog with DCM having improvement or resolution of their DCM with a change in diet. Thank goodness that the link to suspect diets has been made. I hope that more dogs will be saved with being switched off of BEG diets. I wish that the link had been made in time to help my golden, Duncan.
I met Duncan when he was a year old. I am a veterinarian and Duncan came to me via his foster family, clients of mine, when his original owner developed cancer and could not take care of him anymore. Duncan was the biggest and smartest golden that I have ever had in my life.
Duncan came to me already eating a non-WSAVA compliant diet and with the warning that he had a very sensitive digestive tract and needed to be on that food (Natural Balance Lamb and Rice). In less than a year, he no longer tolerated that food either. After he started having problems, I was given a sample of California Natural Venison grain-free and Duncan did very well on that, based upon his digestive tract.
California Natural changed the Venison grain-free to Venison and Lentil grain-free about a year and a half after Duncan had been eating it, with the marketing ploy “never potatoes”. The new formula contained what I call “every lentil known to dogs” and I suspected that the switch was made by California Natural to allow the guaranteed analysis to state that the protein level in the food was just as high but allowing them to reduce the amount of venison in the formula.
Duncan did not do as well on that and I suspected the fiber in the legumes because I was aware of at least one study showing that large breed dogs would have softer stools on diets that contained a lot of the type of fiber present in legumes. No other health conclusion had been made about the consequences of that.
Duncan ate the new formula of California Natural for about one and ¾ years before I found a heart murmur on his fifth birthday. I had listened to his heart two weeks earlier during a bout of digestive upset and he had not had a heart murmur that day. He had an echocardiogram with a cardiologist a few days later, which confirmed that he had severe DCM. His whole blood taurine level was taken the same day and was 303.
Since Duncan did not have a low taurine level, and since the link to BEG diets had not yet been made, I did not change his diet off of grain-free. I did switch to Solid Gold Buck Wild because it was potato based and had the potatoes listed before the onslaught of legume ingredients. He did better on this than on the California Natural, once again based upon his reduced episodes of digestive upset. I did supplement with Royal Canin Prescription Select Protein PV canned, but not the dry due to shortages of the food at the time.
I did supplement taurine and had him on all of the usual medications as prescribed by his two cardiologists (enalapril, Vetmedin, spironolactone, digoxin, hydrochlorthiazide, diltiazem, omega 3 fatty acids, l-carnitine, coQ10) and verified that his treats and food were fairly low sodium. Duncan survived for another 15 months, and I am grateful that we had that much time. I know that many have not been that lucky.
Duncan was playful on the day that he died and passed away in his sleep, most likely due to a fatal arrhythmia. The only death that could have been better for him would have been if he had sudden death while he was chasing a rabbit or swimming. That would have been a lot harder on me.
It has taken me four months to tell Duncan’s story in its entirety. It has been a hard four months, because each new revelation about diet-associated DCM has made me feel so guilty that I killed him with his diet. He died 9 days before Dr. Stern’s announcement that he was studying taurine-deficient DCM in golden retrievers. No link had been made to BEG diets yet. I could not possibly have known what the specialists did not know. However, Duncan is the first of my dogs or cats that I EVER fed a non-WSAVA diet to. And he will be the last.
So I share my long story about Duncan with the hopes that his story will help someone else and many more dogs. Here’s to a New Year with no new cases of diet-associated DCM.
22- Abby. Severe DCM after eating Kirkland Nature's Domain Salmon :
Abby
:( RIPDiet: Kirkland Nature's Domain Salmon
23- Julie Carter's Oliver. Died at age 4 after eating Zignature.
Oliver's Story
Today has been a rough day. Exactly one month ago, we lost our beloved Oliver to Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM). He had just turned 4 years old and was a proud study enrolled Hero in the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study (GRLS). Oliver collapsed and died on my kitchen floor from a fatal arrhythmia. Something I now understand goes hand in hand with DCM.
Although I’m thankful that Oliver didn’t suffer, the manner in which he died was excruciatingly painful for us. Despite being less than 5 feet away when he dropped to the floor, there was nothing my husband or I could do to save him. He was gone in a matter of seconds, leaving us no time to say goodbye or accept what was happening.
DCM is a cruel and deceptive disease. From the day he was diagnosed to the day he died, Oliver looked and acted like the picture of health. He was strong, playful, energetic and completely asymptomatic. Our only clue there was a problem came when a heart murmur was detected during a GRLS vet visit. Within days, Oliver was at the cardiologist having blood work for a Taurine test (which came back at 209) and an echocardiogram. He was diagnosed with Dilated Cardiomyopathy that day and our lives were turned upside down. His cardiologist prescribed multiple cardiac medications and supplements while advising an immediate diet change. By his next meal, we began switching him to a grain inclusive, legume-free dog food and started giving him the prescribed medications and supplements.
For almost 3 years, Oliver was fed a grain-free limited ingredient kibble. The brand and type of food I chose was based on several pet store employee recommendations, as opposed to what my Veterinarian had suggested. I trusted the wrong people with my dog’s nutrition and he paid the price for my ignorance.
Oliver had his last echocardiogram the day before he died. Although his heart was still enlarged, the strength with which it was contracting had improved, leading his Cardiology team and our family to be cautiously optimistic. His heart gave us no indication of what was going to happen in less than 24 hours.
Although additional time and research is needed to determine the exact correlation between certain diets and DCM, there is no doubt dogs are now being diagnosed at an alarming rate. And, while some dogs have shown improvement with proper treatment, others like Oliver, Jax, Bruin, Abby and Harley have died, leaving their heartbroken families completely shattered.
If you believe your dog looks too healthy to have heart disease, think again. If you think your dog can’t have Taurine Deficient DCM because they aren’t acting ill, please think again. Oliver looked and acted perfectly normal until the moment he died.
Please be your dog’s advocate and spare your family the grief my family is suffering from. Educate yourself by reading everything in the FILES section on this Facebook page. Then, spread awareness wherever you go in order to help educate others. TAKE it, SHARE it and RUN with it! Together, we can be the change that will save lives.
24- A tribute to Abby, lost too young at less than 5 years of age
Abby ate Zignature for 2 years prior to her death from DCM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXivKVbzgbI&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0-1B3TzbQ0NPNukQb-_Gdpj7047Vf3K5YKPvCXiHGuNLKCFwHBmViQtsU
