To add to this thread, a study has just been published, which like the others, supports a link between diets with suspect ingredients and DCM.
Briefly and simplified, the researchers recruited dogs that had been eating the same kibble for over a year and had 90% of daily calories coming from that diet.
Diet types were divided into what they labeled as traditional (grain containing without any potato or legume ingredients in the first 10 ingredients) and nontraditional (contained pulses as main ingredient) All dogs were deemed healthy based on exam.
Each study participant had a heart ultrasound to evaluate size and function of the heart. What was found was that dogs eating nontraditional diets, as a group, had weaker contractions and larger ventricular blood volume than the dogs eating traditional diets.
This is yet another study that supports a link between diets with high legume content and the development of DCM.
Like all studies, it has its limitations. Sample size was limited to 23 dogs in each group, and I would have liked to see the diets named.
