What Can Possibly Be The Problem With Grain-Free Dog Food?
I’m glad that the alarm bells have stopped ringing about the dangers of grain-free dog food. For a little while, there was a flurry of articles and cautionary advice about avoiding the dog foods labeled as “grain free” because there was a heart condition called DCM linked to this sort of diet. To me, it made no logical sense that dog foods with peas and legumes like lentils and chickpeas were suddenly under scrutiny as a possible cause of heart conditions in dogs. These were foods that all passed testing by the AAFCO (which regulates the pet food industry) and were deemed to be “complete and balanced” diets for dogs. Many of these foods were “super premium,” meaning made by well-regarded companies with thoughtfully curated ingredients. Something about the burst of warnings about such foods (and then silence when the allegations apparently could not be confirmed) just didn’t make sense to me. This was especially true because many of the suspected foods were considered “super premium,” made by well-regarded companies with top notch ingredients.
I was pleased to read a really insightful blog—information-packed—written by the lovely ladies who are Evermore Pet Food (which I am proud to have as a sponsor of Dog Talk). Their blog is called “Fear and Confusion in Dogland: Our Take on the DCM Controversy” and if you happen to have any lingering doubts about whether grain-free food poses a real health problem, do yourself a favor and bone up (sic) on the subject by reading their blog.
The conclusion seems to be that possible trouble seems to have been reported prematurely last summer, and there’s been no further concrete information about it.
—Tracie Hotchner
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photo credit: Eric.Ray A dog’s life. via photopin (license)