Dog food diets that may be hurting your dog

PITTSBURGH — The Food and Drug Administration is warning dog owners about grain-free diets, saying they could be hurting some dog breeds.

Bob Csaszar learned about this warning the hard way. He adopted his dog Bo nearly five years ago. The German shepherd was a member of the family and was always on the move. Suddenly, Bo go sick, and just a few days later, Csaszar had to put him down. He was told the strict grain-free diet he fed his dog might have contributed to his congestive heart failure.

"There's a lot of cases today where grain-free dog food is leading to congestive heart failure in dogs," Csaszar said.

According to the recent report from the FDA, certain grain-free diets lack key nutrients that dogs need. The dogs are eating diets heavy in peas, lentils, other legume seeds or potatoes.

“There should be warning labels. There should be something to let people know.” Csaszar said. “I knew zero about it. I knew zero that it was harmful in any way until obviously this catastrophe happened to our family.”

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Channel 11 talked to a local veterinarian to find out the risks and benefits of grain-free diets and what pet owners should do when deciding what to feed their dogs.

"The one thing I want to make very clear is many of the grain-free diets are very good diets," said Dr. Lawrence Gerson, veterinarian at Point Breeze Veterinarian Clinic. "They use good products. They have good quality control, but that doesn't go for all of them."

Gerson said pet owners should not get distracted by the fad diets and high price tags and think twice before going grain-free because most of the time, those diets aren’t necessary.

As for finding the right dog food for your pet, experts say talk to your veterinarian and do some research on the pet food company.

“Many of the major food companies have multiple veterinarians on their staff that help them develop their diets to make sure the nutrition is 100%,” said Gerson. “Some of these small boutique companies could not afford that. And, some of those may have deficiencies that would not be detected until you start to see clinical signs in their dogs that something is wrong.

Csaszar is telling all of his neighbors to be careful because he doesn’t want any other pet owner to experience the pain his family has.

“Check with your veterinarians. Make sure the dog food you’re feeding your dog is safe for your dog and isn’t killing your dog.” Csaszar said.

Experts said you should also look on your dog food packaging for the Association for American Feed Control Officials, or AAFCO, statement. It will tell you if the food has been formulated to meet the organization's strict guidelines.

Cox Media Group