I'm glad this was posted here. We had an initial diagnoses that our 11 year old Wire Fox had DCM. I quickly jumped into this issue and learned as much as I could. The X-Rays showed an enlarged heart, no murmur was detected but we'd taken him initially with what we thought was kennel cough.
We had been feeding all 3 of our dogs Pure Vita grain free Duck & Green Lentils, as our oldest Wire Fox had allergies and chicken and some grains appear to be the issue. We just lost our 14 yo Golden but that was unrelated to the DCM. But with a puppy in the mix I began researching getting them off the Pure Vita. We began a slow transition to a Purine Pro Plan diet.
Eventaully we took our DCM diagnosed Wire Fox to WSU Veterinary Hospital for an Echo as the last X-Ray showed his heart had increased more in size. The staff were concerned it could be DCM as well. Low and behold his heart is just fine. The X-Rays were wrong. Thankfully! They did encourage us to move away from the food we were feeding. They did identify he has a small trachea and that may have been contributing to his cough.
Several Universities have been collecting data and encouraging owners to share with the FDA once they get a diagnosis. There is some good info ff you want to learn more about this in the Facebood group called, Taurine-Deficient (Nutritional) Dilated Cardiomyopathy.
These are the current brands that meet the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) standards; Purina Pro Plan, Hills Science Diet, Royal Canin, Eukanuba, and Iams.
The good news is that some of the mainstream media is finally picking up on this and running stories. It's still to early to tell, but education is key.
Two Wire Fox Terriers; Sarge & Sully
2007 Winnebago Sightseer 35J
2020 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon
