A lot of these things have a genetic component, the puppy mills and backyard breeders that continue to breed dogs even when they are aware of hereditary disorders, doesn’t help
To an extent, yes, but environment plays a more drastic role, IMHO.
For instance, I lost a gorgeous show CH male Beagle at 10yrs from a line of extremely healthy, long lived hounds who averaged 16 years. Not long after I bought him @ 5yrs, he had a focal seizure. Nothing I had seen before purchasing this dog indicated anything of the sort was in the bloodline, and when I questioned his former handler and owners of littermates, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc., no light could be shed on the problem. The seizure he had with me was apparently his first and only. A dog that seizes at such a late age either has been in contact w/ environmental contaminants, has been poisoned, has an underlying health issue such as a tumor or Cushings, or is being exposed to something in the food either directly or indirectly causing the issue.
Lo and behold, this dog’s littermate sister also had the occasional “hypoglycemic fit”. She was also the only other dog of about a dozen or so relatives that also ate raw. P.S., I have had, on two other occasions, have dogs with violent seizures immediately after starting the raw diet, when ideopathic epilepsy was unheard of in the bloodline.
Genetics loads the gun, environment pulls the trigger.
To answer the OP’s question:
My youngest dog was a 4yr old GSD euthanized due to complications from degenerative myelopathy. At the time of death, however, she had been on Eukanuba dry/canned foods, and died about 2-3 months before their massive melamine recall. A friend of mine with 3 retired police S&R dogs who also fed Euk dry was experiencing the same symptoms as I was with all my dogs. So yes, I believe in this instance, diet contributed to her early death.
My oldest, incidentally, was a 15yr old black GSD mix who also died of degenerative myelopathy, after battling it for three years. He was switched back to raw after I first noticed symptoms, and made some major improvements in overall health and mobility afterwards. He was NEVER paralyzed. He was treated homeopathically with green tea and ginkgo biloba, and did better than most dogs on conventional meds who’d had the disease half the time. He did “go down” 48hrs before we made the decision to euthanize, but he walked, with assistance, the six blocks to our vet. I will be damned to Hell if diet did not prolong and increase the quality of his life.
And yet, 100% raw + Beagles = inevitable catastrophe. And it fed my Beagle bitch’s mammary tumor like I’d thrown gasoline on a fire.
