[aimee]

Hi Patricia,
Taxonomically dogs are in the order carnivora. The taxonomic order is made up of carnivores, omnivores and herbivores. Dogs are classified as omnivores because of metabolic pathways like the one you mentioned, being able to synthesize taurine. But they have a carnivorous slant, they cannot synthesize Vit D.

Grain free, grain inclusive etc is all marketing to me. And while some ingredients are better sources of what dogs need than others, have better bioavailability etc. the bottom line is that dogs need specific nutrients not specific ingredients.

I can give you my thoughts based on the ingredient line up but cannot tell you if one diet is better than the other or if either diet is well formulated.

Diet one starts with” cage free chicken” why “cage free” chicken and not just “chicken” ?It puts me on alert that the company may be more of a marketing company and puts a bit more spin on their diets compared to another company. This to me is confirmed by all the list of” feel good” ingredients after salt. I tend to think of oatmeal and barley as high fiber carb sources but honestly, I’d have to look each up on a calorie basis to see if that is true and there can be a lot of variation depending on processing. Ditto for coconut flour.

Diet 2 Like diet 1, a lot of grain type ingredients that I don’t think have been as well researched in regard to dog food inclusion as more traditional grains. Cinnamon and Tumeric look to be fairy dust and the list of ingredients after natural flavor I suspect are also there more for consumer appeal

Bottom line. My impression is that both of these options appear to be diets made in response to the announcement of the possible association between diets high in legumes/potatoes and DCM. The concern I’d have is that these options seem to be formulated with ingredients whose dietary impact isn’t fully known

If the reason you are considering a move to grain inclusive is because of the association of certain diets with DCM I’d suggest that you move to a “traditional” diet known to reverse the condition. Consider options by Purina Royal Canin Hill’s Pet Food Iams/ Eukanuba.