Is ONLY adding taurine to the diet the correct response to diet related heart disease in dogs?
At the 2019 Pet Food Forum – a pet food industry trade event held in Kansas each year – one of the discussion groups included a panel of industry experts regarding the current issue of dilated cardiomyopathy (heart disease) in dogs believed to be linked to grain-free pet foods.
Members of the panel addressing questions from attendees were:
- Jennifer Adolphe, PhD, nutrition manager for Petcurean Pet Nutrition
- Chris Marinangeli, PhD, director of nutrition, scientific and regulatory affairs for Pulse Canada
- Anna Kate Shoveller, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Animal Biosciences, at University of Guelph
The question “Should pet food formulators supplement dog foods with taurine to avoid concerns over dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM)?” was asked of the panel.
Per the PetFoodIndustry.com story about this panel discussion, the response from the panel was:
“Yes…yes…yes,” they said, chuckling at their repetition of a simple answer to a complex question.
It certainly was a simple answer to a very complex question. A simple answer that does not address the dogs diagnosed with DCM that have normal blood taurine levels.
Per the last FDA update on the DCM investigation (February 2019), reports received by the agency included a significant percentage of dogs with normal or high taurine levels diagnosed with DCM. From the FDA February 2019 update:
Table 2. Number of pets with various taurine levels (either whole blood and/or plasma) and echocardiogram changes based on medical record review for dogs with a taurine test.
| Status | Count |
|---|---|
| Low taurine with DCM | 39 (37 dogs, 2 cats) |
| Normal taurine with DCM* | 18 dogs |
| High taurine with DCM | 11 dogs |
| Low taurine with non-DCM heart changes | 10 dogs |
| Low taurine with normal heart | 6 dogs |
| Normal taurine with non-DCM heart changes | 1 dog |
| Normal taurine and normal heart | 2 dogs |
These stats were ignored by the industry representatives.
A simple answer of ‘yes, add taurine’ ignores the estimated 40% of the total DCM cases reported to FDA that have normal blood taurine levels.
Industry was suggesting to put a band-aid on the DCM problem. It was an irresponsible response.
How many cases of DCM have been reported to FDA?
Per the FDA’s last update:
Animal numbers in DCM Reports received between January 1, 2014 and November 30, 2018
| Number of reactions | Number of deaths | |
|---|---|---|
| Dogs | 325 | 74 |
| Cats* | 10 | 2 |
*Cats are generally more likely to develop hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (a heart disease)
In comparison, the FDA website gives us the following numbers of pet owner reports received by the agency regarding sick or dying pets linked to jerky treats imported from China:
In a similar time frame (4 years – 2011 through 2014), FDA received an estimated 5,000 pet owner reports of illness/death linked to Chinese imported jerky treats. (By the way, the FDA has never determined a cause of the thousands of pet illnesses and deaths linked to these treats.)
Hopefully the FDA will provide more information to pet owners soon regarding their DCM investigation.
Should your pet be diagnosed with DCM, please report the issue to FDA. Click Here for the instructions to report to FDA.
To read the FDA update on DCM investigation, Click Here.
To read the lab result information from FDA regarding DCM investigation, Click Here.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
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~Pet Owner~
May 21, 2019 at 3:05 pm
What should they be doing?
It was my understanding that the DCM issue goes back a decade, and they still haven’t figured it out. And that (in part) it could be breed fault that is not being addressed within the fanciers’ group.
TexK1
May 21, 2019 at 5:34 pm
Tough to compare numbers of reports betw NM DCM and those of affected from jerky treats. With NM DCM there are often no symptoms and diagnosis is by costly echo, so reports are definitely lower than would be the case in the situation of an owner with a dog sick in front of them not requiring expensive testing to diagnose. DCM will be under reported while dogs sick attributing to jerky treats has potential for over reporting.
Cats Herd You
May 25, 2019 at 2:52 pm
Situations like this are always prone to overreporting. If word gets around that Kibble X causes illness, everyone whose dog is 25 and has 7 concurrent illnesses and who eats Kibble X in the week before they die will blame Kibble X, and they will report it.
I suspect cat cases may be underreported because popular media has picked this up as a “dog problem” and reports it that way. As of The FDA’s July 2018 statement, there were 7 reports of feline DCM and 30 reports of canine DCM where the FDA suspected grain-free food. Almost a year later, there have been an additional 295 dog cases reported and only 3 cat cases. This smells very much like reporting only what the FDA asked for: dog cases.
Loraine Sullivan
May 21, 2019 at 6:27 pm
Interesting article. I used your link to read the FDA update on the DCM investigation. Towards the end of the article it stated “FDA veterinarians have been working with Drs. Lisa Freeman of Tufts University, Joshua Stern of UC Davis and Darcy Adin of the University of Florida to learn more about their research findings and the cases they’ve encountered. The three were contributing authors to a paper published in Journal of American Veterinary Medical Association in December 2018, “Diet-associated dilated cardiomyopathy in dogs: what do we know?”.
It bothers me that Dr. Lisa Freeman is quoted in so many DCM articles. She pushes the 5 prescription dog foods that are sold from Veterinarian offices and actually seems to turn her nose up at every other dog food and home prepared food. Also I find it very unsettling that she recommends pet owners NOT to read the ingredient labels. Source – Petfoododgly – “Stop reading your pet food ingredient list” Quote – “•Reconsider your dog’s diet. If you’re feeding a boutique, grain-free, or exotic ingredient diets, I would reassess whether you could change to a diet with more typical ingredients made by a company with a long track record of producing good quality diets. And do yourself a favor – stop reading the ingredient list!”.
But what I really find distasteful is that her research is financed by the companies that make the prescription dog foods. Isn’t that a conflict of interest? I cannot find it believable that Dr. Lisa is being totally unbiased in her assumption that the only good dog foods are the prescription dog foods sold right from the Vets offices when in fact it’s these very dog food companies paying her to do the research.
Source – Diet-associated dilated cardiomyopathy in dogs: what do we know? “Acknowledgments
Within the past 3 years, Dr. Freeman has received research support from Aratana Therapeutics, Nestlé Purina PetCare, and Royal Canin; has consulted with Aratana Therapeutics and Nestlé Purina PetCare; has given sponsored talks for Aratana Therapeutics, Hill’s Pet Nutrition, and Nestlé Purina PetCare; and has served on a scientific advisory board for Aratana Therapeutics. Within the past 3 years, Dr. Rush has received research support from Aratana Therapeutics, Nestlé Purina PetCare, and Royal Canin and has consulted with Aratana Therapeutics and Nestlé Purina PetCare. Within the past 3 years, Dr. Adin has received research support from Nestlé Purina PetCare. All other authors report no relationships relevant to the contents of this editorial to disclose.”
Bam
May 22, 2019 at 2:04 pm
So she is still recommending deadly food. What a crock. Purina 2007 and Hills 2018-19. Their so called “science” is a joke.
zachary chernik
May 22, 2019 at 9:35 pm
Please add this to Lisa Freeman’s info:
The Tufts Nutrition Center is one of four veterinary nutrition centers nationwide that Nestlé Purina has funded through the Nestlé Purina Veterinary College Program. Others are located at Michigan State University,Colorado State University, and the University of California-Davis.
https://www.proplanveterinarydiets.com/media/1469/getresourceaxd-17.pdf
~Pet Owner~
May 23, 2019 at 9:26 pm
Funding is often an endless gravy train (no pun intended). Anybody expect an actual conclusion anytime soon? Testing could be done faster – conducted through private third party entities. With nothing to lose.
Jimmy Dean
June 3, 2019 at 2:30 pm
Hi Lorraine, where did you find the info on the Acknowledgments?
~Pet Owner~
May 21, 2019 at 7:38 pm
Guess I’ll expand on my discussion since no one else has. Is the real solution to eliminate pea protein as a protein equivalent, while adding more real meat protein? It would seem to me that making sure taurine is appropriate in every recipe is the important thing to do for every dog. But would be a null fix if the meal itself is insufficient or damaging to begin with.
If the DCM issue began decades ago, wouldn’t the proper comparison be between the natural occurrence of DCM (first) in which breeds specifically and (second) against how the incidence has increased both in the specific breeds and then against new incidence in all breeds? Wouldn’t that be the most telling kind of study? Because it still could be a breed fault in GRs to begin with, about which fanciers just don’t want to raise alarm with clients.
Not Buying It
May 22, 2019 at 8:23 am
I am following you here. Back in the 90’s Taurine Deficiency began showing up in Golden Retrievers and American Cocker Spaniels. There are other breeds affected by this condition as well. I do not see supplementing Taurine as a band-aid, more like something helpful in food for these types of dogs, though I do think we need to get to the bottom of why SOME dogs have this issue while many more others do not. As for the ones with normal or high taurine levels, I would really want to examine these more thoroughly, because in the beginning of this issue, all the dogs had low taurine, then later on – as the issue became more widely known, it was then that testing showed the normal/higher levels. Could it be that before testing was ever done that these owners began supplementing taurine (be it in toppers or supplements or even a food change to something that had taurine added) prior to testing?