Hazel and Food for Thought

First we want to thank everyone

 for their POTP, prayers and well wishes for Hazel

We are happy to report the new heart medicine has helped Hazel be more comfortable with her breathing.  This medicine is to help her heart pump better. She did have some fluid build up when she was checked on Thursday so we doubled her afternoon dose of Lasix. We hope now between the two medicines we can keep things in check. She is scheduled for a recheck on the 24th. 

We have some other developments (don't panic) as a result of Hazel's issues so we are going to let Mom take over.  She may be a bit long winded but we hope you will read through what she has to say

Friends, all of us love our pets and always want to do what is the very best for them, which includes feeding good food. You may have heard there are new reports that grain free food may cause heart problems in dogs. Because of some things that transpired at our vet last week, I went looking for information.  I am writing this post as information only, not as an expert by any means and not to influence anyone.  I hope you will read carefully and not make any rush to judgement. 

When I took Hazel to the vet last Monday and it was determined by x-rays that her heart was enlarged our vet asked me if we fed grain free food. I said yes. She then told me about the recent reports that some grain free diets may be leading to dilated cardiomyopathy in dogs.  At 14, Hazel's condition can very likely be attributed to her age, but we made the decision to x-ray Mabel as well.  So we took Mabel in on Thursday as a precaution not expecting the answer we got. Mabel shows a slight enlargement on one side of her heart. I just wanted to cry. When I got home I started looking for information and what I found was quite interesting. 

First - If you feed grain free food DO NOT PANIC!

It does not seem to be the lack of grains 

but some of the other ingredients that are added to SOME of the grain free diets.

I am going to tell you some of the main points I took from a couple of articles I found and then I will provide links to those articles for you to read if you want

The report included the fact that all of the cases had something in common: all the dogs had been eating diets heavy in peas, lentils, chickpeas, and potatoes.

“Diets in cases reported to the FDA frequently list potatoes or multiple legumes [our emphasis again] such as peas, lentils, other ‘pulses’ (seeds of legumes), and their protein, starch, and fiber derivatives early in the ingredient list, indicating that they are main ingredients.”

Not All Grain-Free Foods Are Under Suspicion

Please keep reading to the end of our post but here are links

 to two very informative articles from Whole Dog Journal 

that will give you more complete information

Please read if you have any concerns about the food 

you are currently feeding your dog.

whole-dog-journal.com/blog/Please-Dont-Panic-About-the-Grain-Free-Thing

whole-dog-journal.com/issues DCM-in-Dogs-Taurines-Role-in-the-Canine-Diet

Again I want to stress, these reports are very new and we just wanted to put this information out there and you can draw your own conclusions and thoughts. 

Yes, Hazel's age could be the main cause of her enlarged heart.

Mabel had her share of health problems in her first year and her x-ray results could be related or just coincidental.  At this point Mabel is totally fine but by changing their diet we have a good chance of stopping and maybe even reversing the slight enlargement. After much searching I found a good quality kibble that has none of the suspected ingredients.  It is not grain free but neither of the girls have problems with grain. That may be over doing it but at I would rather be safe than sorry.  We will be monitoring Mabel by doing x-rays again in about 9 months.

Thanks for reading

and thank you again for all your love and well wishes for Hazel

We are the PugRanch Kids

Hazel & Mabel