Dog with enlarged heart: Can I add natural food & fish oil to kibble?

Omega 3 fatty acids for pets can help with heart health. Royal Canin makes a diet for dogs with heart disease. Lastly, it is not fully understood, but there appears to be a link between grain free dog food and heart enlargement. If you are feeding a grain free diet, you may talk with your veterinarian about a diet change. I hope this helps.

Many OTC wet dog foods can be high in salt content, which should be avoided in dogs with heart disease. If you would prefer that Champ be on a wet dog food, then you may want to discuss a prescription heart diet with your vet. If your vet does not have concerns about salt content at this stage of heart disease, then you can choose a diet based on your budget and dietary preferences for Champ. I feed my dogs Purina ProPlan because I like their quality of ingredients and the diet fits in my budget.

Yes, you can use supplements on a dog with DCM. However, most of the supplements have similar actions to the drugs that we use for heart disease, so you need to be sure that you are working with your vet or a vet trained in herbal medicine to make sure the dosage and effects are safe for Chico. I use Hawthorne berry to increase cardiac contraction, and I don't see that Chico is on a medication for that, so that might be a good addition. And I don't think there are any contraindications for Omega 3 fish oil which can improve blood supply to the heart muscle itself. Again, I would recommend speaking to your vet about those supplements and see if they have any other suggestions. I will often use Coenzyme Q10 in my heart patients as well. If you need to find a vet comfortable with herbal therapies, you might be able to find one here under the find a vet section. https://www.ahvma.org I hope that was helpful! Thanks for using PetCoach.

I would not recommend giving Niko raw eggs. Raw eggs are not safe to feed him, and there is the risk of poisoning from avidin, which is a protein in raw eggs whites. Excess avidin interferes with the functioning of biotin in the body, which in turn is essential for the growth of cells, metabolism of fat, and transference of carbon dioxide among other things. You can feed him hardboiled eggs with no shell instead. I would also causing against using too much olive oil, as that will lead to pancreatitis. Too much fish oil interferes with wound healing. Use sparing amounts of olive oil, and you can give Niko 1,000 mg fish oil containing 300 mg of EPA/DHA combined for every 30 pounds of weight. To keep him heart healthy, do not over feed him, make sure he is on a high quality puppy formulated food, and take him out for regular exercise.

A hydrolyzed therapeutic diet might be the best option for a dog with food allergies and potential heart disease. Hills makes a version called z/d, Royal Canin makes HP and Purina makes HA. Your vet would know more details however and might make a different recommendation based on Champ’s history so you should contact them before changing the diet.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! While this would be a good short term diet, this lacks some key nutrients, vitamins and minerals. For that reason, a more complete commercial diet such as any of the Purina Pro Plan or Science Diet foods would be more appropriate. Good luck!

No, higher doses of fish oil will not help prevent heart disease. Doubling up her fish oil can actually have detrimental effects on your dog's health, including interfering with wound healing and interfering with the inflammatory response of the immune system. To be honest if a dog is genetically prone to developing heart disease, there is nothing to prevent that from happening. If it's in her genes, supplements will not change genetic expression. I would not give your dog double doses of fish oil.