JUSTICE FOR JAGGER

On Tuesday, March 19th, 2019, we tragically lost our beautiful, curly haired 7 year old golden retriever Jagger Zeus. We were so lucky that this incredible boy chose us. He was kind and gentle to every person and dog that he came into contact with. And he adored our other dog Lola. He always wanted to be a part of every family moment because he deeply loved us and we deeply loved him. Jagger’s days were filled with swimming, hiking and cuddling. He was always up for anything.  In the fall of 2018, we noticed that he had slowed down a little bit but chalked that up to age.  By winter, he just wasn’t completely himself. The vet ran blood and told us that he had a very low T4 thyroid level.  He was put on thyroid medication which made him drink excessive amounts of water and pee all the time.  We brought him back to the vet and were told he could possibly have Cushing’s disease.  On March 16, 2019, Jagger was having trouble breathing. We brought him to the emergency room. The first thing they asked us was what kind of food have you been feeding your dog.  We were told that our dogs lung's were filled with fluid and they thought he had food related dilated cardiomyopathy. We have never heard of this disease, nicknamed the silent killer.  Our vet never asked us what type of food we were feeding our dog and never once mentioned that any of this could be related to his heart.  We had been feeding both of our dogs a grain free boutique food for approximately 4 years.  The DCM diagnosis was confirmed by a certified cardiologist 36 hours later.  Jagger's taurine levels were also tested and they were completely normal.  They tried everything to clear his lungs so they could start helping his heart. Unfortunately, Jagger just couldn’t hold on.   He passed away 72 hours after he was brought into the hospital.   We miss our buddy.  Obviously, we wish that we had known about DCM.   We have created this website to educate others about DCM and boutique dog food.    Grain free dog food now represents over 40% of all dog food sold in the US.   

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