Make sure your Golden is on a “Safe” Food
Updated 09/12/2024
This is our current “Safe/Approved Foods” list. We will do our best to keep this page up to date. Due to the fact that Golden Retrievers are one of the breeds that are associated with food-related DCM (dilated cardiomyopathy), it is important that you are extremely careful about what you feed your dog/puppy. This is the main reason I have created a “Safe” Foods list in the first place. For the health of my puppies, I require that you ONLY feed one of the brands/formulas noted below for the Health Guarantee that I provide to stay valid. The only caveat to this requirement is if your veterinarian prescribes a veterinary diet food such as Purina, Royal Canin, or Science Diet. Any prescribed food can only be purchased through a veterinarian or with a written prescription.
Table of contents
Ultimately, Your Choice
I cannot MAKE you feed specific foods. Nonetheless, please understand that I do the research and keep up to date on those foods that are correlating with DCM cases. REMEMBER – Just as I state in my Feeding Goldens article, Cost DOES NOT equal QUALITY when it comes to dog foods. I do not want you to go broke trying to feed your puppy/dog. Still, I want to make sure you are feeding a “safe” food to limit the risk of DCM.
I have used many of the puppy foods on the list below, previously, all Purina products were my “go-to” and these are still safe concerning DCM (according to the studies). However, there are formulas that I will no longer feed due to the new receipe. On another hand, there are people who SWEAR BY Royal Canin. There are also those that prefer Science Diet, since it was the only Veterinary brand for many years. Additionally, there are vets that push only those foods that are “supported” by the WAVSA. If you have a puppy from me, you can choose to feed any of the foods listed below based on what you feel is best for your dog. However, if you want to learn more about what I have chosen to feed my dogs, and why, you should check out the “Feeding Your Golden” article.
All of the foods I have listed below are currently in the “safe” list for food associated DCM. The foods associated with DCM are growing exponentially as more tests are done and more cases are found. PLEASE be careful when you decide what to feed your puppy! Once the studies can pin point the expected primary source, I feel the “safe” dog foods will grow.
Standing Suggestions
All of our puppies will go home on a mixture of foods. We raise our puppies on Country Vet Naturals Puppy, Nutro Ultra Puppy, and Bil Jac Large Breed puppy. If you get a puppy from us, you need to keep your puppy on these two foods until he/she is 12 weeks old. After that point, if you want to change foods, make sure that you change them to two of the approved foods below. **We still suggest you choose two of the foods mentioned below and mix them to help make sure your puppy gets the optimal nutrition. Make sure each food is a different manufacturer (Ex: Royal Canin and Bil-Jac)**
Additionally, do not feed your puppy/dog on a schedule if you do not have to. Dogs know how much they need no matter what the back of the bag states. If you start your puppy off with free feeding, you should never have issues with overeating. If you want to start feeding an adult this way, it is a MUCH longer process, but it is possible. Finally, if your dog is getting a little too heavy, you change the food, not the feeding process.
CAVEAT:
If you are a puppy owner and have been feeding one of the foods we recommend and we find out that it needs to be taken off the list, your pup’s guarantee WILL NOT be in danger. We will still happily support our health guarantee. We understand that this information is changing every couple of months. Additionally, it has been shown that dogs with food associated DCM often “recover” when put on a “safe” food. (Ex: I used to suggest a specific formula Victor. Although the recipe I used is not the one associated with the cases found, I have not yet put any of them on this list until I can do additional research).
When I started this page, I only went off those foods that were approved by the WSAVA. However, I have done a great deal of research on this topic. If the suspected food ingredients are peas, lentils, sweet potatoes, and “designer” additives, then these are not the only safe foods. Additionally, there are some foods made by the WSAVA manufactures that contain some sort of pea, lentil, or sweet potato in some of their foods. Finally, through consistant research I find out who is being investigated for FDA non-compliance, and who is changing their recipes without “notifying” the public. I am constantly adding and removing foods from this list only due to their ingredients. As a result, this list may never be 100% complete. However, if the food you have chosen for your dog is not on this list – MAKE SURE to look at the ingredients of the food you purchase. If the food you use is not on this list, you can contact me directly if you would like me to look into it and explain why it is not on the list. If I find that thed food you have me check out is beneficial and follows the specific parameters I look for, I can add it to the list.
“Approved” Puppy Foods
Bil-Jac
Bil-Jac Puppy Select Chicken Recipe (Chewy)
Bil-Jac Large Breed Puppy Chicken Recipe (Chewy)
Nutro Ultra
Nutro Ultra Puppy Three Protein (Chewy)
Country Vet
Country Vet Naturals Growing Puppies (Chewy)
NutriSource
Large Breed Puppy Chicken & Rice (gotpet)
Merrick
Classic Healthy Grains Dry Dog Food Puppy (Chewy)
Purina
Purina One Plus – Healthy Puppy Formula Premium Dog Food (Chewy)
Purina Pro Plan High Protein DHA Lamb & Rice Formula Puppy (Chewy)
Purina Pro Plan Sport Development Large Breed High-Protein 30/18 Chicken & Rice Formula Puppy (Chewy)
Purina Pro Plan Sport Development High-Protein 30/20 Chicken & Rice Formula Puppy (Chewy)
Diamond Naturals
Diamond Naturals Large Breed Puppy (Chewy)
Iams/Eukanuba
Iams Proactive Health® Smart Puppy Large Breed (Chewy)
Iams Smart Puppy Original (Chewy)
Eukanuba Large Breed Puppy Food (Chewy)
Eukanuba Lamb 1st Ingredient Dry Puppy Food (Chewy)
Royal Canin
Royal Canin Golden Retriever Puppy Food (Chewy)
Royal Large Breed Puppy Dry Dog Food (Chewy)
Victor
Victor Purpose Nutra Pro (Chewy)
Nulo
Nulo Frontrunner Puppy (Chewy)
4Health
Wholesome Grains Puppy Lamb and Rice (TS)
Wholesome Grains Large Breed Puppy Chicken Formula (TS)
Approved All Life Stages Foods
Diamond Naturals Chicken & Rice Formula All Life Stages Dry Dog Food (Chewy)
Dr. Tim’s All Life Stages Kinesis Formula Dry Dog Food (Chewy)
Blackwood Salmon Meal & Brown Rice Recipe Sensitive Skin & Stomach Formula (Chewy)
Purina Pro Plan Sport Small Bites All Life Stages High-Protein Lamb & Rice Formula (Chewy)
Purina Pro Plan Sport Performance All Life Stages High-Protein 30/20 Salmon & Rice Formula (Chewy)
Purina Pro Plan Sport Performance All Life Stages High-Protein 30/20 Salmon & Cod Formula (Chewy)
Approved Adult and Senior Foods
Bil-Jac
Picky No More Medium & Large Breed Chicken Liver Recipe (Chewy)
Adult Select Chicken Recipe (Chewy)
Large Breed Adult Chicken Recipe (Chewy)
Senior Select Chicken & Oatmeal Recipe (Chewy)
Reduced Fat Chicken Recipe (Chewy)
Sensitive Solutions Whitefish Recipe (Chewy)
Nutro Ultra
Nutro Ultra Large Breed High Protein Adult