In 2018 a blog from a veterinary nutritionist sparked a controversy between ‘BEG’ diets and heart disease in dogs. For the past two years, despite an FDA investigation, scarce and vague scientific data has created major issues for pet owners and the pet industry. For clarity, ‘BEG’ diets are known as Boutique, Exotic protein or Grain Free. A recent article published in the Journal of Animal Science titled, “Review of canine dilated cardiomyopathy in the wake of diet-associated concerns” that appeared to be a saving grace for many advocates of ‘BEG’ diets. This paper investigated a potential association between grain-free pet food and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in dogs. The authors state, “based on this review of the current literature, there is no definitive relationship between these implicated diet characteristics and DCM.” Despite this statement, realize the purpose of this paper was to identify numerous knowledge gaps surrounding DCM and nutrition, rather than to draw conclusions. While no link between ‘BEG’ (boutique, exotic, grain-free) was found, this does not mean that nutrition and other considerations are not at play.

Every day there is more information made available to educate owners on various diets available. Commonly discussed and debated topics include grain-free foods and the age-old practice of giving your pets “table food.” Should we feed human food to our pets? The short answer is it depends. Some of these foods can be very beneficial and some could have unintended negative consequences.