These Grain-Free Foods Can Cause Heart Failure In Dogs

It's always important to give your dog the best diet you can. It's a scary thought to think the food a dog your dog is eating could be harmful but that looks to be the case with grain-free foods.

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According to WGRZ, the FDA says hundreds of dogs have gotten heart failure because they were eating grain-free dog food.

"We know that there's a link between grain-free food and specifically foods that have lentils and peas and maybe sweet potatoes in them," said Ryan Carpenter, a veterinarian for Family Friends Veterinary Hospital. "So those foods are causing dilated cardiomyopathy."

Dilated cardiomyopathy is a "disease of the cardiac muscle that results in decreased ability of the heart to generate enough pressure through the vascular system."

The FDA found, based on a 2018 investigation, that grain-free foods block the absorption of taurine, an amino acid needed for a dog's heart to function.

The most prone breeds of dogs are golden retrievers, Labrador retrievers, mixed breeds, Great Dane's and pit bulls.

These are the brands of dog foods included in the FDA's investigation.