Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM)

last updated 2/2/2025

Dilated cardiomyopathy is a disease affecting the heart muscle (the myocardium). It is the second most common heart disease in dogs (after mitral valve disease).

As the heart muscle weakens it cannot pump properly, slowing blood flow and reducing oxygen supply to the body. Causing fluid retention, increasing blood volume and stretching the heart. The diseased heart cannot respond and all the chambers become dilated. Eventually the circulation slows so much that fluid leaks out of the blood vessels into the lungs and the abdomen. This is known as congestive heart failure.

Reading

DCM
Mode of Inheritance
DCM Clinical Testing/Diagnosis
 Comprehensive
Electrocardiogram (ECG) is used to monitor electrical activity of the heart, Radiographs (“X-Rays”) evaluate the heart size within the chest, and look fornevidence of fluid build up within the lungs.n• Echocardiography real timenassessment of the heart as it beats.

DCM Around The World

Informal data collected from CSDB 289743 Dogs
Data lasted updated February 2025

% are more important when considering these statistics rather than the numbers recorded above, as some dogs results may have been duplicated in different databases

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Breeds Effected By DCM

Research Notes on DCM

This is not an appropriate mandatory test, until the disease is identified in cocker spaniels.
If that happens then the gene and mode of inheritance would still need to be identified. discovered is definitively agreed upon.
Including test that are not identified as relevant or specific to cocker spaniels could be dangerous when breeding make assumptions from these results.

In American cocker spaniels, the disease may be related to a deficiency in taurinen and/ or L-carnitine (amino acids).