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  3. I have a 15 week golden retriever puppy and I’ve been feeding him Acana and Orijen two of the BEG and warned about companies, until I got spooked with all these dcm warnings, I switched him to Purina, got allergies right away( itchy, biting his legs and different spots.) hoping he only had allergy on wheat I switched right away to Josera grain inclusive without wheat and soy… Now I hear doc saying continue feeding grain free unless you have a golden, I am confused ! What should I do ?

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  5. This is incredibly helpful. I took my 10yr old chihuahua to the vet today and they told me I needed to change her food asap because I feed her grain free. I've been feeding blue basics limited ingredient because her stomach is so sensitive and it's the only thing that doesn't upset her stomach. She doesn't eat kibble.

    But I'm grateful to have this perspective and will work in different types of food that aren't grain free. Thank you!!

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  6. sorry still don't agree with all your dog food choices — regardless of how well you think your dogs are doing. Kibble is way too high in carb. And that stew you made is ok for a treat but should not rely on it long term to provide your dog any real nutrition. Fresh /raw that has supplements and is complete and balanced is the best (more than once a week).

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  7. Ok, but while I was a little girl and even older, my dad always fed our dogs with home made food, he would made it himself, meat rice, carrots, potatoes or sweet potatoes some garlic.
    None of our dogs évergot sick of anything. None had arthritis, diabetes, xancer, cataracts, no heart issues either. not even a Cold,. My 15 year old Collie looked like he was a 3 year old pup. He was running and jumping and standing on top of our fence, his tweets we're all there and had all his white beautiful strong teeth

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  8. Hi Doc,
    My boxer pup whose is 8 y/o this March has been on a raw diet for the last 2 years. Since starting her on the diet she longer has skin issues.
    I now more recently wanted to start her on a Vegan diet (particularly Wild Earth brand) and would love to know your thoughts. The reviews I’ve read seem to be promising and positive.
    Let me know your thoughts on this.
    Thank you!

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  9. One of my rescued dogs currently has DCM. My vet gave her drugs that have nasty side effects and she is doing better. However, i prefer to treat her naturally. Along with homemade food, i add hawthorn, dandelion, and ubiquinol. Now she is doing Great!!

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  10. What Dr Jones is is not telling us is that MAJORITY of GP Veterinarians do not discuss "food" with their clients, nor are they experts in diet. Even if a problem arises it isn't reported anywhere. THAT may be the reason why the study or the reporting is so small? The topic of feeding usually comes up if there are allergies. I fed my dog Instinct Turkey, Limited ingredient, Grain Free for 7 years. She now has a Heart Murmur. I am limited in what I can feed her, as she is allergic to many foods and environment. My dog is 8 lbs and had the most pampered life, other than allergies. Perhaps, Heartworm and Flea & Tick poison also affect the heart? My previous 2 small dogs were fed food with grain. One lived to be 18, the other 15.

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  12. I lost three to DCM. A miniature pinscher, a bichon, and a chihuahua. All fed grain free Fromm dry and wet and the honest kitchen. A fourth was in the beginning stages and a change to Proplan reverses it over a years time. I hope no one else has to go through such a horrible thing in a few months time.

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  15. Out of 560 reported cases of DCM, 452 of the dogs were fed kibble-only diets. About 10% of those kibble fed dogs were fed grain-inclusive diets. 24 dogs were fed a mix of kibble and other. 9 dogs were fed raw. It’s not that hard to understand. The answer has even been on the Wikipedia page for “dog food” for years. Kibble is linked to taurine deficiencies in cats and dogs. Taurine in highly processed foods is no longer bioavailable. And it’s not just taurine. There was a study where two groups were fed either kibble or a vegan diet. Both groups had similar levels of taurine and other nutrients at the end. Doesn’t that say something about kibble? Kibble is nutritionally equivalent to a vegan diet… food-related DCM cases were virtually non-existent in dogs fed real, fresh meat regularly. So why were there 9 cases of DCM in dogs fed raw? Nutritionally unbalanced raw diets can be high in fat, which is also known to interfere with taurine. I also read every single report and found that all of the dogs with reported DCM and raw diets were of breeds predisposed to DCM. What about grain-free? Why are the cases overwhelmingly associated with grain-free? We’ve known for a long time that they are anti-nutrients in humans. They contain compound(s) that interfere with the absorption or metabolism of other nutrients. And again, of course something is going to go wrong if you feed a diet of 60% peas, legumes, and potatoes, known anti-nutrients. Same thing with 60% corn, soy, grain. Or 60% cookies, McDonald’s, sugar. Who decided that dogs can live on diets like these? Nestlé-Purina?

    No pet food company that sells kibble in the right mind would admit any of this. But the solution to DCM is right there on the FDA website, Wikipedia, and virtually any taurine-related study on both humans and animals that have been out for YEARS. Kibble does not have enough taurine for your dog to survive off of alone. In fact, everybody already knows that you cannot live off one single food for the rest of your life, especially if it’s the equivalent of McDonald’s.

    The DCM scare is way overblown and companies are using it to point fingers at each other when almost all of them are guilty. Just feed less kibble and stop trying to make a “scientifically proven” super kibble that might not cause DCM.

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  16. Thank you so much for what you do! I've learned so much about dog nutrition. I've work for a small nutritional supplement manufacturer for years. It interesting to me that the information I've learned at work & in our training, is so similar to what I've heard in your videos. I have an 8 1/2 yr old Golden Retriever. I've been researching food for Nana but there's so much information it's overwhelming. Poor Nana has been on so many different dog foods in my attempts to feed her a beneficial and healthy diet. Thank you again! I really appreciate your videos! Nana appreciates the home cooked meals!

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  18. Doc, is there any basis for being concerned about feeding a dog primarily lamb for the protein segment? Lamb has significantly less taurine than other meats. Chicken thighs have the highest concentration of taurine. So, I’m asking about the importance of taurine in a dog’s diet. Thanks for providing excellent videos and vet advice. Love your channel.

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  20. I have lost a Dobie at 5 years old, to DCM. At the time, I fed them a popular grain-free dog food, and can't help but wonder, if it contributed to his early death…. I now have another Doberman, who is now 14 months. During this time I have rotated between Fromm and Wellness Core Ocean, and through research and discovering your videos, I noticed that these foods had peas and lentils, in their recipes. It's kinda made me panic.
    I also supplement with Taurine capsules, coconut oil, and on morning meals, feed beef hearts, sometimes with kibble, sometimes without, depending on how much I have available, on occasion. Other times, I get beef tips or the cheap steaks from the grocery store and supplement too. He does not do well on chicken or any kibble, with chicken as the main ingredient. He doesn't really like carrots, and will chew them up and spit them out, but I also have found that my big boy, loves oranges. Occasionally, I give him raw eggs with the shell, but they don't agree with him, too well. Also, give him a can of sardines with his morning meal, on occasion. It's a long drive to the butcher in another county, but I try to make a trip every couple of weeks, and plan on getting beef liver and ask if they have beef kidneys, which I think they will. I have read, adding different things to his diet, will help in preventing DCM, and I will not lose Dutch, to that dreadful disease. Everything checked out well, at the vet, in January.
    His primary diet however, is still kibble, and that's due to schedules, kids, etc., and always in the evenings, due to a Dobe's sensitive stomach. Today however, I have now ordered, Farmina N&D Ancestral Grain Lamb & Blueberry, in which I see no lentils, peas or potatoes, in their ingredients. I had never heard of this food, before today, and came upon it, after researching, lentil, pea and potato free dog foods. What are your thoughts, on this food?

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  21. Fantastic update – just what I needed to relieve my anxiety….. AND what I had hoped. I know feel more confident in continuing Acana & Orijen and I've noticed they too are coming out with new blends and taking advice reducing the ingredients that Vets (like you) FDA believe may be a behind the scenes DCM causes. Thanks Dr. J…. an Ontario follower !@

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  22. To the person who lost a dog from this and has another one suffering from it.. who had been feeding all their dogs grain free food for years.. that tiny percentage is enough to hurt. 😢 So we don’t use that food anymore.

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  23. Dr. Jones, We have been feeding our English Lab home-cooked food. But we got a bit carried away and fed him bread and now he's having yeast allergies. His meal consists of ground beef and zucchini. Please advise us of what else to feed him.

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  24. Grain free dog food has been around since the 90's and all of the sudden they are causing heart disease in the last 2 years? It's not based off of science. It is based off of profit. Grain free dog foods are outselling cheap, crappy dog food put out by Purina and Hills Science Diet, which pay to put veterinarians through school. Since these brands cannot compete they use political channels like the FDA and vets, bought and and for, to scare people away from their competition. If the government says something is bad for you take a hard look at it. The first few articles put out by the FDA contained zero evidence and had misleading, dishonest information. Until they put out meaningful, objective, non biased data then we should disregard everything they say and the same goes for Veterinarians.

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  27. What raw meat should
    I fed my 15 old yorkie ? Chicken, beef fish?
    He’s around 5 pounds and very pocky with food. I’ve always cooked for him. Some veggies , some meat and lentils or bit of pasta or rice , good food but he’s bored and started spitting food out lately.

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  29. One thing, your saying the odds are small because it's .001% but that's counting all dogs. Do we have any idea what percentage of dogs that are actually using a grain free kibble are having problems? That might change the dynamic…

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  30. What if it's not about the macros, or the gluten, but about the possibility of contamination of grains, peas, and lentils with pesticide residues, mold, or mold inhibitors, artificial preservatives, artificial flavorings, excitotoxins like Aspartame or MSG, or artificial dyes?

    Studies never seem to use organic foods to compare with. When all food used to be organic a hundred or so years ago, and dogs have eaten people food for a thousand years.
    Maybe lets do all these studies with human-grade, organic food. Otherwise it's just going towards justifying new food-processing techniques, however toxic they might be.

    Carnivores have strong stomach acid, so they can eat food that is more decayed than we omnivores eat. So if it smells bad, we won't eat it, but dogs and cats might be glad to. This means that processed pet foods might get away with older, more rancid foods. But later on these foods might lead to illness long term.

    The highly processed foods might have seed oils that cause inflammation in both pets and humans.

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  34. Hi Doctor, On your first point… why is it not good for a Golden Retriever to eat Grain Free? Can you look at Elemental Tasman (made in Spain) my husky X chow and my golden retriever seem to be doing really well on it, and their coats are so shiny. But I am worried when you mention golden retrievers and them having a susceptibility to heart disease in general as a breed … or did I misunderstand?

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  35. Who are the people thumbing this down? Do you not like science? Do you want your dog to die an early and painful death because you can’t feed a grain inclusive food? Good lord some people are so dense.

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  36. I have been making homemade dog food for about 6 months now. My little Chihuahua was supposed to be gone 11 months ago from cancer. She is going strong and last visit the vet couldn't feel the tumor. Not saying it's gone but it has shrank. Due to the food, who knows but I am continuing with homemade. Never will I go back to commercial food. We make the DIY "Just food for Dogs" . I am still wondering if I really need to add those supplements or can I give them vitamins?

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