[OUGrad05]

We are phasing out Acana due to DCM concerns despite our dog loving it and her seemingly doing well on it, coat, poops, energy, etc were all good. We have switched to primary food being Victor Nutra Pro, which seemingly is good food, but our little girl isn't doing as good on it. She's a 1 year old boxer pup and first of all its tough to get her to eat it. She lets it sit in her bowl for long periods of time, sometimes not eating at all during a day. If I mix in a good amount of the remaining Acana she eats it up.

Her coat is also noticeably worse and her poops are very mushy on the Nutra Pro. Her energy level still seems pretty good, and she's not lost much weight because I ultimately find ways to make her eat after she skips an entire day, either putting water on the food, mixing it with Acana or putting some eggs in it.

Any thoughts or recommendations on this predicament? I'll sometimes mix in some other foods just to keep flavors and textures interesting/different for her, but I'm looking for a good base food that doesn't show flags on the DCM data.

 

[pmokl]

We are phasing out Acana due to DCM concerns despite our dog loving it and her seemingly doing well on it, coat, poops, energy, etc were all good. We have switched to primary food being Victor Nutra Pro, which seemingly is good food, but our little girl isn't doing as good on it. She's a 1 year old boxer pup and first of all its tough to get her to eat it. She lets it sit in her bowl for long periods of time, sometimes not eating at all during a day. If I mix in a good amount of the remaining Acana she eats it up.

Her coat is also noticeably worse and her poops are very mushy on the Nutra Pro. Her energy level still seems pretty good, and she's not lost much weight because I ultimately find ways to make her eat after she skips an entire day, either putting water on the food, mixing it with Acana or putting some eggs in it.

Any thoughts or recommendations on this predicament? I'll sometimes mix in some other foods just to keep flavors and textures interesting/different for her, but I'm looking for a good base food that doesn't show flags on the DCM data.

Victor is great food. I fed it to my dogs for a short time but their stool was never solid. I think the food is very rich. I now have them on Purina Pro Plan Sport 30/20 Salmon Formula. They have perfect solid stool every time.

 

[Francl27]

Proplan didn't do so well either on DCM testing... Victor neither... but to be fair, a lot of foods don't. But I'm really not fond of the ingredients of ProPlan so I never considered it, and switched my dog out of it when I got him. I fed Canidae ages ago but pea is too high in the list for me to be comfortable with it now.

Personally, I alternate foods every 2/3 bags, just in case. I stick to high quality brands that don't have legumes, peas, or potatoes (or at least not in the first 4 ingredients).. so I pretty much go for foods with grain. So far it's been Holistic select and Annamaet (that one I got on sale but it's just way too expensive to feed on a regular basis). No issue with either on my 3 dogs. Probably going for Nutrisource after. I buy from a local store with a good reward program so my selection is pretty limited unfortunately (and they do have a lot of grain free stuff).

 

[OUGrad05]

The spreadsheets that I saw had 0 incidents of Victor Nutra Pro and Purina Pro Plan with DCM. Several animals tested all negative. If you have newer data I'd like to see it.

Proplan didn't do so well either on DCM testing... Victor neither... but to be fair, a lot of foods don't. But I'm really not fond of the ingredients of ProPlan so I never considered it, and switched my dog out of it when I got him. I fed Canidae ages ago but pea is too high in the list for me to be comfortable with it now.

Personally, I alternate foods every 2/3 bags, just in case. I stick to high quality brands that don't have legumes, peas, or potatoes (or at least not in the first 4 ingredients).. so I pretty much go for foods with grain. So far it's been Holistic select and Annamaet (that one I got on sale but it's just way too expensive to feed on a regular basis). No issue with either on my 3 dogs. Probably going for Nutrisource after. I buy from a local store with a good reward program so my selection is pretty limited unfortunately (and they do have a lot of grain free stuff).

 

[LeoRose]

Boxers are genetically prone to a type of DCM, no matter what they are fed. An annual holter monitoring and echocardiogram would be a good idea, starting at two to three years of age.

As I’ve always said, the “best” food in the world is no good if your dog doesn’t do well on it and/or refuses to eat it. While a lot of people hate anything made by Purina, I also know people who will only feed Pro Plan. I’ve fed Pro Plan with good results. I’ve also fed super premium (and super pricey) foods that my dogs did horrible on.

Sometimes it’s just trial and error to find a food that meets the requirements of 1) the dog does well on; 2) the dog likes to eat; and 3) you can afford to feed.

 

[MarieLovesChis]

Agree with LeoRose. Hard to recommend any one brand as what our dogs do good on wont necessarily mean your dog will do good on it. My dog is quite sensitive and the brands that have worked the best for her are Farmina Ancestral Grain, Purina Beyond, and Annamaet Small Breed/Ultra. Acana never worked well for my dog though, lots of huge poops for her size

 

[parus]

Anyone have links to these spreadsheets? Thanks

 

[MarieLovesChis]

Anyone have links to these spreadsheets? Thanks

Theres this one I've seen posted elsewhere https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TNru_WWKf0TbZ8aYBgOJjsh4cziKZwdA6GEbXTUFJ_M/edit#gid=582733736

I do not know if there is an updated one with more results, sorry

 

[Francl27]

The spreadsheets that I saw had 0 incidents of Victor Nutra Pro and Purina Pro Plan with DCM. Several animals tested all negative. If you have newer data I'd like to see it.

They do have several results with low taurine levels however... but again, we don't know how much taurine has an impact on DCM. Overall though... just not enough data to draw ANY conclusion, other than most of those out of whacks numbers come from foods with legumes.

 

[OUGrad05]

They do have several results with low taurine levels however... but again, we don't know how much taurine has an impact on DCM. Overall though... just not enough data to draw ANY conclusion, other than most of those out of whacks numbers come from foods with legumes.

None with DCM though, that's important, at least at this point. I do agree with your overall conclusion that we don't have enough data and I am also in agreement that its likely legumes causing the issue, but that's simply based on what I know about human digestion and K9s are not humans. So we'll see!