Can chances of Cardiomyopathy in dogs be reduced by dog food brand?

Recent studies have shown a new trend of large breed dogs having cardiomyopathy (enlargement of the cardiac walls) that is not typically seen in dogs. The cause is still being determined, and it is NOT 100% substantiated, but one of the theories is people feeding their dogs a grain free diet.

With golden doodles being part golden retriever (a large dog breed) our reproductive vet, Dr. Jernigan at The Animal Hospital at Lake Brandt (shameless plug because he is amazing!) brought this new research to our attention. We felt it was in our best interest, as responsible breeders, to complete our own research and determine any proactive steps we could take to set our Doodles of NC line up for continued impeccable health.

What causes cardiomyopathy in dogs?

The leading theory in the cause for cardiomyopathy is people feeding their dogs a grain free diet. Believe it or not, nearly EVERY brand available is now grain free.

We have always believed in the importance of feeding good, quality food, which is why we used to feed Acana. However, like many other brands, Acana removed all grains from their ingredients list leaving their carbohydrates to be gleaned from sweet potatoes and rice.

Benefits of Fromm Gold Dog Food

After much research, we landed on feeding our line of golden doodles Fromm Gold Puppy and Fromm Gold Adult for several reasons.

Fromm pulls from a variety of protein sources
Fromm uses whole barley
Fromm adds taurine (which is important in cardiac health)
ALL ingredients are sourced from the US
ALL mineral and vitamins come from Europe
Fromm is produced and packaged in the Midwest, in their own manufacturing plants

Overall, we are very thankful that Dr. Jernagen brought this to our attention and wanted to pass this along to all of you, our wonderful Doodles of NC families!

Whether you decide to switch to Fromm Gold Puppy/From Gold Adult, or not, we hope that sharing the decision we made, after extensive research, will help you make an informed decision for your own fur baby.

If you’d like to complete your own due diligence, here are a few resources we found helpful:

Purchasing Fromm Gold Online

We’ve added links to both Fromm Gold Puppy and Fromm Gold Adult to our Amazon store. We hope this helps locating the exact brand and variety easy for everyone.