Mid-Peninsula Animal Hospital™ Blog

A quick progress update about the research surrounding the FDA's concern over what's causing dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in dogs eating certain types of pet food. In case you missed it, this is an issue we brought to your attention last summer to clear up confusion with some dog foods' relationship to DCM. 

The issue is important because DCM is a form of canine heart disease that can cause congestive heart failure in dogs, even sudden cardiac death. It's significance was highlighted by the FDA taking a rare step of naming names -- backed up by science, of course. UC Davis had originally sounded the alarm and other universities are now pursuing to aid the research. 

Like we mentioned in our blog post at the time, the FDA named 16 brands representing the most reported cases. They typically are labeled as "grain-free" (90%), and typically with high levels of peas and lentils (93%). Researchers found that most dogs on this diet had low levels of taurine in their bloodstream. Taurine is an amino acid which is crucial for heart health. 

Since then, research has continued on the issue. Of the reports of DCM which appeared to be related to diet, 90% ate grain-free food, but what about the other 10%? What about those cases with DCM that show normal levels of taurine? These and others are really great questions!

More recently, the research has broadened to include a wider scope of foods. Also being examined are foods made in small batch by small companies, and those which contain exotic incredients (duck, alligator, rabbit, bison, etc.), in addition to the grain-free foods heavy in peas and lentils. There's even an acronym term for this broader scope. The term now being used is "BEG" diets, which is not a play on what your dog may do at your heels while you're at the dinner table.  It stands for "boutique," "exotic" and "grain-free." The point is the research scope has broadened.

Another change is switching from thinking about finding the most common commonality (or the 90%) to thinking about the issue in a more complicated way. Scientists and doctors refer to it as a 'multi-factorial' approach, which recognizes that multiple factors may be at play, particularly for the other 10%. Perhaps some of these BEG foods somehow inhibit taurine uptake, or interfere with how the body absorbs amino acids, or interfere with how the body utilizes those amino acids. 

Yet another factor is that some animals may be genetically predisposed to this path, which might explain why some are super quick to develop the food-related DCM in just a few months. These are all questions being examined now.

As you can tell, this is a topic we're very interested in. It's not because we offer these types of products -- quite the opposite. We only sell prescription food. As we mentioned before, if you get your food from us, particularly a special diet, rest easy on that score. 

Given that we do not currently offer any BEG diet products, we may seem a little disproportionately fixated on the topic. When it comes to concern for what goes into our clients' pets, focus is appropriate. We may not offer it, but some clients may use it. Plus, we are always interested in "food as medicine" as a topic. 

It goes without saying that if you have concerns, or questions, or want to screen to be sure your animal isn't developing DCM, please feel free to ask your veterinarian. We will also keep you posted once in a while here too.

We had a great time together at our company holiday party! This year marked our first year in Redwood City. While our new location is very close to our old location, here on the peninsula, every neighborhood has their own great places. 

The place we chose is a beautiful gem. Open to the public, the Dragon Theater at 2120 Broadway, in Redwood City, is fairly close to the San Mateo County History Museum, and easily walkable from the Redwood City CalTrain station.

The Dragon Theater is available as an event space for parties such as ours, of course.  However, it's main objective is to produce professional theatre productions that are uncommon, intimate, and empathically bold. They focus on accessibility for audiences, artists and the community.   

Productions are either Main Stage productions (with audience discounts available for subscriptions of as few as three (3) shows), or 2nd Stage productions, which serve as a nesting incubator for developing producers and artists. A step beyond, their immersive art explores the audience relationship to performance through the theater's new Dragon Experience Design Lab (DXDL). 

And if that's not enough, the Dragon Theater gets super immersive with classes for adults and children, corporate workshops and private coaching for actors or anyone looking to beef up their public speaking chops. Classes range from story telling and play writing to improv. 

For our particular event, we set up noshing in the lobby, and were treated to a private performance of the Nutcracker. One of the highlights, for us, was watching one of our very own fabulous RVTs, Anna Yanushkevich, perform as Uncle Drosselmeyer and the Rat King. She did a terrific job, and made us proud. The theater is "on Broadway," in a lively, thriving cultural section of Redwood City. The whole experience was intimate, uncommon and truly festive. 
 

As 2019 winds down, we are taking a moment to gather our family of doctors and staff to celebrate a successful year settling into our new facility.  As such, we will be closed this Saturday, December 21st, all day for our annual Staff Holiday Party. 

If you had planned to stop by on Sat. for a prescription refill, pet's food or what have you, please consider coming in on Friday (open until 6pm).

We will be admitting boarders by appointment only, and naturally the boarding care staff are graciously remaining on site. They are the best and we appreciate their dedication. 

Since the hospital will be closed, we are also taking the opportunity to upgrade a piece of a non-trivial electrical gear on site. We have our fingers crossed that goes smoothly.

While we look forward to celebrating with our staff, we do apologize for any inconvenience the closure may cause.

Thank you!

About a block away, there's a transformer pole down, which has our power completely out.  No phones.  Nothing.  We've managed to contact today's appointments to reschedule, though we're not sure how much longer the batteries on personal cell phones will hold out. Of course, our dedicated staff is staying on-site to ensure the animals who are in our care are comfortable, warm and well looked after. 

PG&E is working on it now. They estimate the time of restoration at about 7pm tonight.

Meanwhile, we are working hard to re-establish phone communications, but are otherwise closed for the day.

We will keep you posted.