I took this VERY seriously when i read it,and contacted my vet.I feed my Pugs Wellness grain free & Science Diet weight control ( eye roll) which they went on strike when i took it away,BUT may be a good thing now? This is only part of what she replied:
One thing that may come to light in the future is the exact percentage of meat that composes these diets. DCM has been linked to a low level of taurine, which is an amino acid that is found in certain meats or animal proteins. Dogs can also synthesize taurine from a precursor called cysteine that is often found in ingredients besides protein eg grains. If there truly is a causation, we may also find that certain grain free starches may actually prevent absorption of taurine or prevent it from being synthesized from the precursor cysteine (this is just a hypothesis-I am not aware of any science that has proven this theory yet).
One common misconception is that grain free diets actually help pets with allergies. This may be true in some cases, but in studies, we have found that most pets are actually allergic or sensitive to the protein and not the grain in diets. Unfortunately, through advertising, many pet food companies have pushed owners to believe that ‘grain free’ means healthier and less allergies, and we have seen many owners opt for more expensive grain free food because of this. The majority of pets do great on diets containing grain.
