Freid, K.J. et al.
2021
Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine

Medical records of dogs diagnosed with DCM between 2014 and 2018 were reviewed to collect data such as: body weight, heart rate, arrhythmias, murmur grade, echocardiographic measurments, and serum biochemistry. Dogs diet was recorded, as was whether or not the diet was changed and each dog’s final diet. Dogs were grouped into “ traditional” (grain inclusive extruded not containing peas, lentils or potatoes as main ingredients) or “ nontraditional” diet (extruded grain free contained the ingredients listed before)
Dogs with DCM eating non traditional diets that had their diets changed had a longer survival time and a greater improvement in echocardiographic measurements, compared to dogs on nontraditional diet that did not have their diet changed..
The results were consistent with two previous studies suggesting that dogs with DCM eating non-traditional diet can experience improvement cardiac function after diet change. Further research is needed to understand the association of diet and DCM.