Just chiming in......DCM is most certainly an issue and vets are rightly worried about "grain-free".....the jury is still out regarding causation but dogs are at risk, especially large breed dogs.
Here is a great journal article:
https://academic.oup.com/jas/article/97 ... hHKBfEwC6M
Legumes are HIGH protein so, it is extremely difficult to determine the amount of PROTEIN from meat in a food that is high in legumes. I do think the the EPI dog food recommendations of LOW FIBER does help since legumes are high in fiber we tend to steer clear of foods high in legumes. Also, peas are not recommended/well tolerated for dogs with EPI so that helps us steer clear of the higher legume dog food.
Grains are usually not well tolerated by EPI dogs; however, they are low in protein and lower in fiber than legumes. So, the actual food formula needs MEAT protein to make up the protein content of the food. And, actual MEAT has taurine but grains do not. Here, a grain inclusive food SHOULD have a higher meat content. And, believe it or not, one of the highest TAURINE content ingredients is "animal or poultry by-products" and "fish meal".
Here is an old study (2003) comparing different Taurine levels of animal feed products and how they are processed:
http://www.maosao.info/pdf/0001842310.pdf
I do believe that I have dodged the DCM bullet because my 5 large breed dogs have been on a fish based grain-free diet that does not have peas. One of my dogs is allergic to peas and the other is allergic to poultry. However, every year over the past 5-7 years it has been more and more difficult to find pea-free foods and I think this is the main problem. I read ingredients and food companies have added more and more legumes. Seriously, I have seen, peas, pea protein, pea starch, navy beans, chickpeas, lentils ALL in the same formula. And, now, seeing pinto beans. Seriously, that's just crazy. Oh boy!
These are just a few articles available. I stick to peer-reviewed journal articles. Hope this helps.
Conny
