[Patricia A]

I’m not overly concerned about DCM with my breeds who as of late not one of the breeds most susceptible. But I do keep looking and alert for any new info from reliable research just in case I should be concerned. I’m just finding it so disturbing for the poor people who have to be very concerned about DCM and the only choicesthat WSAVA tells people are k four brands with one being HILLS???? How would anyone trust them ? They may not be causing DCM but really can they be trusted???? Doesn’t WSAVA care about how negligent this company is to cause SO many recalls that could also kill your dog with those extremely high vitamin D levels? And to top it off inadvertently “forget” to recall one with last batch? How can anyone continue to feed this? UPDATE (May 16, 2019) According to Hill’s, the reason for the surreptitious recall was because it was a lot that “was inadvertently left off our recall list.” Now updated, the list includes 33 varieties of Hill’s Prescription Diet and Hill’s Science Diet canned dog food.

Hill’s Pet Nutrition quietly slipped in another lot dog food to the growing list of food recalled for excess vitamin D. Without any public notification, the company expanded its recall of Hill’s Prescription Diet i/d Canine Chicken & Vegetable Stew 12.5oz (SKU 3389) to include Batch code 102020T21. The recalled products were distributed around the world. A breakdown of recalled products by country was posted on eFoodAlert on March 21st and has since been updated.

This marks the fourth wave of recalls that began on January 31, 2019, when Hill’s first found that some of their dog foods contained, what is reported to be, lethal amounts of vitamin D in certain lots of their Hill’s Prescription Diet and Science Diet canned dog foods. Later it was revealed the company hid the problem leaving veterinarians and consumers ignorant of the severity of the crisis.

This latest blunder adds to the growing list of missteps the company has made in handling the recalls of their Science Diet and Prescription Diet pet foods that were blamed for causing the premature and preventable deaths of dogs in the more than 80 countries.

• This topic was modified 5 years, 5 months ago by Patricia A.

[joanne l]

Patricia I agree totally, this food all most killed by other dog. He is no longer with me. He died at age 13 from prostate problems. He always got Nutro, then the vet put him on Hill’s for stomach issues as he got older and it made him so sick. I don’t care if some people on here say, well maybe he had a condition already, no I knew my dog very very well, when I took him off of it and cooked for him he was no longer sick. That was back in 2012. Maybe they are okay now, but I will not use that food, it left a bad memory in my head. In respect for my dog that passed away, I won’t give Hills not one penny of my money. And I do agree, even if it is WASAVA approved that does not mean it won’t cause other issues.

[Bobby dog]

Patricia A & joanne l:
Please link to the WSAVA “approval” of Hill’s…or any “WSAVA approved or recommended” foods list from WSAVA.

[joanne l]

I won’t use Hills even if it was highly recommended period!

[Bobby dog]

Feed what you want, did not comment on your food choices just looking for the “WSAVA approved & recommended” brand lists from WSAVA I’ve been reading so much about…

[Patricia A]

Bobby WSAVA does not recommend any one brand of dog food. However they insist the only foods to feed follow the WSAVA guidelines. Coincidently, the three big companies support and fund this group. Hills, Nestle (Purina) and Royal Canine. They insist one of those brands are the only brands to feed your dog. Maybe someone on this board knows if the criteria for what to feed your dog came before or after these four funded them.

[crazy4cats]

https://www.wsava.org/wsava/media/arpita-and-emma-editorial/selecting-the-best-food-for-your-pet.pdf

Above is the link to WSAVA’s recommendations to select dog food. Wondering which of the recommendations you two don’t think is important? As you have stated, they do not make any specific brand recommendations, just helpful advice for consumers to choose a food.

Also, can you tell me why companies such as Champion, Fromm, Diamond and others do not do their own or contribute to any type of research or testing. Wouldn’t you rather the brand you choose have done some controlled feeding trials to determine the digestibility of their formulas rather than on your dogs? It’s not like these are small ma and pa companies.

I praise the big companies for parting with some of their profits to help fund research veterinary schools.

I hope you find a safe food that works for your dogs.

[joanne l]

Patricia here is a link to what you were saying.

Is it any wonder Pet Owners are Suspicious?

other than that I have No further comment.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 5 months ago by joanne l.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 5 months ago by joanne l.

[anonymous]

This has been discussed before. Per the search engine: /forums/topic/lawsuits-against-orjien-acana/#post-130737

[Bobby dog]

C4c:
No they certainly aren’t ma and pa businesses. It would be nice if they spent as much time & money conducting and/or investing in research rather than the micro brew beer and real estate business…

joanne l: I believe Thixton had good intentions when she embarked on her career. Now, she is busy promoting her own agenda, it’s a business for her now.

Patricia A:
They are RECOMMENDATIONS for finding a responsible pet food manufacturer. Which recommendation(s) do you find objectionable to hold a company to?
https://www.wsava.org/wsava/media/arpita-and-emma-editorial/selecting-the-best-food-for-your-pet.pdf

Where do I find WSAVA telling or writing this info? “They insist one of those brands are the only brands to feed your dog. “, “and the only choices that WSAVA tells people are k four brands with one being HILLS????” and “They insist one of those brands are the only brands to feed your dog.” ~ Patricia A

I don’t know about you, but I am glad when any pet food company funds research. The big three have been doing so throughout their histories. Now, most pet food companies only fund marketing their foods in pet food stores or in the media. In the 90’s and 2000’s the big three were so successful they were bought by larger corporations, happens in a capitalistic society. But, they continued investing in research.

I am no longer entrusting my pets’ health to someone who worked at Petco as a vendor coordinator with only 20’s years experience in sales and marketing, business development, strategic planning and financial management. Or, people who hold marketing, business, equine study degrees, people who just inherit the family business, were successful in the beef industry, or built a sports drink empire and decided why not make pet food it appears to be a profitable business with no education in companion animal nutrition.

However, the reluctance shown by BEG and other companies to take their profits and invest in our pets health rather than taking them to the bank would certainly give me pause if they suddenly did the responsible thing…

[crazy4cats]

Amen, Sister BDog!

[Patricia A]

Bobby never meant to come across as a know it all on this forum. It’s very difficult to keep up with all the prevailing information from a million sources which is many times not reliable . I never even heard of WSAVA before approx . last year. I went to their website and NO they do not say what to feed. .I imagine these four are the only ones which meet their criteria for a responsible company. In regards to feeding trials even WSAVA’s statement from their website discounts the validity of them.”Formulated foods are manufactured so the ingredients meet specified levels, without testing via feeding trials interpret with caution. However, the use of feeding trials does not guarantee the food provides adequate nutrition under all conditions”
If my dog was the breed more susceptible to DCM I most likely would switch to a brand not listed under the DCM causing foods. However, I think there is a lot of hysteria regarding feeding food from a “boutique” as it’s called. Also, I also do not buy dog food from petco ever. Only some toys.
Maybe everyone buying these brands for their dog started with this statement?
BEG is a term coined by Dr. Lisa Freeman, DVM, Ph.D., DACVN of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University to mean “boutique (small company), exotic (nontraditional meat proteins), and grain-free” foods. The term has no standard definition in the pet food industry, nor is there agreement among veterinarians for what constitutes “boutique”, “exotic”, or even “grain free”.

Dr. Freeman is an advocate of “traditional” pet foods including Purina ProPlan, Iams/Eukanuba, Hill’s and Royal Canin. She is the source of the information many veterinarians sent recently to customers and patients advising them to stop feeding grain-free foods in favor of the above pet food brands, despite there being no such warning from the FDA.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 5 months ago by Patricia A.

[crazy4cats]

I guess the main thing I take from the WSAVA recommendations is that you need to check out the company who is making the dog food you purchase. Regardless if they can meet all the recommendations or not. Choose the ones that are important to you. You really cannot tell the quality of a dog food by the ingredient label. I’m done now.

[Patricia A]

Crazy4cats well said in a nut shell. Something we all can agree upon. I just had hot dogs for dinner. I’ll just stay away from googling how bad that is for you . I enjoyed them so much and don’t want to ruin it. lol

[Owen J]

3-4 times a day, the puppy should be offered several pellets of dry food soaked in warm water to make it easier to eat. New foods should be offered before breastfeeding. In the early days of complementary foods it is especially important that the portions are small – this way the food is easier to digest by the digestive system. Complete transition to ready-made rations is completed at the age of 6-8 weeks.
https://herepup.com/honest-kitchen-dog-food-reviews/

[Julie F]

I have a ancient Great Dane ~11-12 (rescue so don’t know her true age). Since we adopted her in 2011 she has only ever eaten TOTW Wetlands and 4Health Large Breed (50/50 Mix). I researched/compared these foods to a great extent (long before there was much out here) against the popular “now” recommended foods. My dearly beloved ancient Great Dane does not have DCM. We recently, in the last 2 weeks, rescued another Great Dane (~4 YO). The vet at the rescue informed me of the DCM issues. We are in a quandry since the rescue was feeding Nutrisource. We have switched the newest members (the 4YO GD was a bonded pair to a little mix breed dalmation – we adopted both) to TOTW. The little guy (73#) only likes the Nutrisource, not the TOTW. The ancient GD quit eating over a month ago and only recently started eating again on a regular basis – she loves the Nutrisource. Any thoughts/recommendations. Thinking of going with what I have done for the last 8 years. Seems to have worked since my ancient GD has lived what seems to be a double life. TYIA.

[haleycookie]

The fda has suggested to not change diet as little is still understood about what is causing dcm. I would feed what ever they like and has been working for them. If you are concerned you can have an echo done as well as taurine testing. That’s the best way to go in my opinion.

[Julie F]

Just a thought – but the ancient GD has always stolen the cat kibble whenever she could. Great source of Taurine! We, of course, have modified our cat feeding habits, but still……..she sneaks some every now and then. Hey, she is ancient so I am letting her eat what she wants. More concerned for the 4YO that acts like a pup.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 4 months ago by Julie F.

[anonymous]

Nutrisource has grain-inclusive formulas.

I don’t pay any attention to specific brands that are mentioned in the report.

They should just say AVOID GRAIN-FREE DOG FOOD across the board, all brands for now! Also avoid legumes, peas or at least make sure they are far down on the ingredient list.

Also, don’t you think it’s odd that all the brands mentioned are high end? I think that pet owners that buy expensive dog food are more likely to take their dogs to the vet for every little thing and demand testing.
An echo costs abut $350, taurine level is expensive too, at least $200.

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