Most dogs with heart disease do best on a diet supplying 500–800 mg of sodium per 1,000 kcal for moderate restriction, dropping under 500 mg per 1,000 kcal in advanced congestive heart failure. Early-stage dogs usually just need salty treats and table scraps removed. Never go below AAFCO's minimum of roughly 200 mg per 1,000 kcal.
That single number — milligrams of sodium per 1,000 kilocalories — is the only fair way to compare foods, because a bag listing "0.3% sodium" tells you nothing until you factor in calorie density. Below you'll find the conversion math, daily sodium ceilings by dog weight, and which formats to look for when you browse dry dog food or ask us to pull a typical analysis in person.
How the sodium-per-1,000-kcal targets are set
Veterinary cardiologists grade sodium restriction in three tiers: mild (roughly 800–1,000 mg per 1,000 kcal), moderate (500–800 mg per 1,000 kcal), and severe (under 500 mg per 1,000 kcal). The tier your dog belongs in depends on disease stage, not breed or size. The 2019 ACVIM consensus statement on myxomatous mitral valve disease, indexed on PubMed through NCBI, recommends avoiding high-salt foods and treats from Stage B1 onward, with more deliberate restriction once congestive signs appear in Stage C.
There's a floor as well as a ceiling. AAFCO dog food nutrient profiles — carried forward into the 2026 Official Publication — set adult maintenance sodium at a minimum of 0.08% on a dry-matter basis, which works out to about 200 mg per 1,000 kcal. Sodium is an essential electrolyte, and dogs on diuretics such as furosemide are already losing it. Chasing the lowest possible number without a veterinarian's input can backfire.
The conversion math, worked twice
To convert a guaranteed analysis into mg per 1,000 kcal, multiply the sodium percentage by 10,000 to get mg per kg of food, then divide by the food's kcal per kg expressed in thousands.
- Example 1: 0.35% sodium, 3,800 kcal/kg → 3,500 mg/kg ÷ 3.8 = 921 mg per 1,000 kcal (mild restriction at best).
- Example 2: 0.20% sodium, 3,600 kcal/kg → 2,000 mg/kg ÷ 3.6 = 556 mg per 1,000 kcal (solid moderate restriction).
Many standard adult maintenance dry foods land between 800 and 1,800 mg per 1,000 kcal, so a dog needing moderate restriction genuinely does need a formula change — not just smaller portions. Shrinking meals lowers total sodium but also lowers protein content and calories, which is exactly the wrong trade for a cardiac patient who may already be losing muscle mass.
Daily sodium ceilings by dog weight
Using a maintenance energy requirement of roughly 110 × body weight in kg0.75 — a reasonable estimate for the lower activity level of most cardiac dogs — here are approximate daily sodium allowances at both the moderate (800 mg/1,000 kcal) and stricter (500 mg/1,000 kcal) targets:
- 5 kg (11 lb) — about 370 kcal/day → 300 mg sodium at moderate, 185 mg at strict
- 10 kg (22 lb) — about 620 kcal/day → 495 mg at moderate, 310 mg at strict
- 20 kg (44 lb) — about 1,040 kcal/day → 830 mg at moderate, 520 mg at strict
- 30 kg (66 lb) — about 1,410 kcal/day → 1,130 mg at moderate, 705 mg at strict
- 40 kg (88 lb) — about 1,750 kcal/day → 1,400 mg at moderate, 875 mg at strict
Those totals include everything: food, treats, dental chews, the crust of toast someone slipped under the table. That's why a 5 kg Cavalier is so easy to overshoot. One ounce (28 g) of salted deli meat carries roughly 300–400 mg of sodium — an entire day's moderate allowance for a small dog, gone in three seconds.
Related questions
How much sodium can a dog with heart disease have per day?
A 10 kg dog on moderate sodium restriction can have roughly 495 mg of sodium daily; a 30 kg dog can have about 1,130 mg. In advanced congestive heart failure those figures fall to roughly 310 mg and 705 mg respectively. Your veterinarian sets the tier based on echocardiogram findings, medication list, and bloodwork.
Ask your vet clinic for a written milligram-per-day target rather than a vague "low-salt diet" instruction. With a number in hand, you can check any bag's guaranteed analysis and calorie content and know within a minute whether it fits. The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association is a good starting point if you need to locate a clinic or a referral cardiologist in Ontario.
What should a mitral valve disease dog diet look like?
A mitral valve disease diet is moderately sodium-restricted, calorie-dense enough to prevent weight loss, adequate in high-quality protein (2.0–2.5 g per kg of body weight daily or more), and often supplemented with omega-3 fatty acids. Palatability matters as much as the numbers, because appetite typically declines as disease progresses.
Cardiac cachexia — the loss of lean muscle seen in heart failure — is a bigger day-to-day risk than a slightly imperfect sodium figure. A food your dog refuses is a food with 0% compliance. Our nutrition experts at the North York store often suggest keeping two or three acceptable low-salt options in rotation, plus a topper, so a dog who goes off one flavour still eats. Warm water or a low-sodium wet dog food stirred into kibble helps considerably.
Are there low-sodium dog treats available in Canada?
Yes — single-ingredient dehydrated and freeze-dried treats are the most reliable low-sodium category, because plain meat, fish, or sweet potato contains only naturally occurring sodium with no salt added for flavour or preservation. Canadian-made options from Crumps' Naturals and Open Farm fit this description well.
What to avoid: jerky strips with salt listed in the ingredients, cheese, bully sticks marketed as "seasoned," rawhide processed in brine, most soft training treats, and — importantly — commercial pill pockets, which many owners use twice daily without ever counting them. In our store we see customers surprised that treats alone were contributing 20–30% of their dog's daily sodium. When you shop dog treats, read the ingredient panel and stop at the first mention of salt, sea salt, or sodium-anything.
Do I need a prescription cardiac diet, or will an over-the-counter food work?
Over-the-counter foods can reach moderate restriction (500–800 mg per 1,000 kcal) if you choose carefully. Severe restriction below 500 mg per 1,000 kcal, combined with the potassium and magnesium adjustments some dogs on diuretics need, usually requires a veterinary therapeutic cardiac diet authorized and dispensed through your vet clinic.
That's an honest limit worth stating plainly. Retail formulas aren't formulated as therapeutic diets, and we won't pretend otherwise. What a specialty retailer can do well is help you find a moderately restricted maintenance food, verify the numbers against the manufacturer's typical analysis, and stock genuinely low-sodium treats and toppers so the therapeutic diet your vet prescribed doesn't get sabotaged between meals. Our guide to pet food for specific needs covers how we approach these conversations.
Does grain-free matter for a dog with heart disease?
Grain-free status is not a sodium issue, and no causal link between grain-free diets and dilated cardiomyopathy has been established. The FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine investigated reported cases and has not confirmed a dietary cause. If your dog already has diagnosed heart disease, discuss diet composition with your veterinarian rather than switching on internet advice.
What is worth discussing is taurine. Certain breeds — Golden Retrievers, Cocker Spaniels, Newfoundlands, Dobermans — have documented taurine-responsive cardiomyopathy, and plasma taurine testing is a straightforward blood draw. Any change involving raw dog food or a novel protein for a cardiac patient should be cleared by your vet first, since raw diets vary widely in sodium and mineral balance between batches and brands.
What to actually buy for a sodium-restricted dog
For a dog needing moderate sodium restriction, prioritize brands that publish a full typical analysis including sodium in mg per 100 kcal, choose an adult or senior life-stage formulation rather than an all-life-stages one (growth profiles carry higher sodium minimums), and replace every processed treat with a single-ingredient alternative. Puppy and performance formulas are the wrong direction entirely.
Two brands we carry make the sodium homework easier than most, for different reasons:
| Feature | Hill's Science Diet | Open Farm |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Owners who want published sodium figures per 100 kcal and highly consistent batch-to-batch formulation | Owners who want traceable ingredients plus detailed nutrient data, in dry, wet, or freeze-dried formats |
| Protein source | Named animal proteins (chicken, lamb) with grain-inclusive carbohydrate bases | Humanely raised named proteins, including novel options and ocean fish lines |
| Life-stage options | Adult and senior lines, plus small and large breed-specific nutrition | Adult and senior recipes across multiple formats and textures |
| Sodium data access | Published per-product nutrition data; ask us to look it up in-store | Published nutrient analysis by recipe and lot; ask us to look it up in-store |
| Price tier | $$ | $$$ |
| Available at Ashario | Shop Hill's Science Diet dry food | Shop Open Farm dog food |
Neither is a substitute for a prescribed cardiac diet — but for a Stage B1 or B2 dog whose vet asked only for "no added salt," either line gives you a defensible starting point. Our team at Ashario Pets recommends bringing your vet's written sodium target with you; we'll pull the typical analysis for two or three candidates side by side and do the mg-per-1,000-kcal arithmetic with you at the counter.
Treats, toppers, and supplements to pair with it
- Single-ingredient dehydrated treats — plain sweet potato or beef liver pieces from Crumps' Naturals; break a 10 g piece into four training rewards.
- Freeze-dried plain protein — useful as a 5–10 g meal topper for dogs whose appetite is fading; browse freeze-dried dog food for options that double as treats.
- Omega-3 fish oil — veterinary cardiology practice commonly uses roughly 40 mg EPA and 25 mg DHA per kg of body weight daily, which for a 20 kg dog is about 800 mg EPA and 500 mg DHA. Confirm the dose with your vet before starting; options sit in our dog health and wellness range.
- Skip salted broths, dental chews with added sodium, and rehydration products unless your veterinarian specifically prescribes them.
One practical Ontario note: winter walks around Earl Bales Park mean road salt on paws, and dogs who lick their feet after a walk ingest sodium that never appears on any label. Rinsing paws at the door is a small habit that matters more for a cardiac patient than for a healthy dog. Our dog wellness resources cover seasonal paw care in more detail, and you can always contact our store team with a label question before you buy.
Visit us at 1111A Finch Ave W, Unit 2, North York, ON M3J 2P7 — we're open 7 AM to 11 PM daily, and delivery is available across the GTA through apps like Uber Eats.
Quick summary: Aim for 500–800 mg of sodium per 1,000 kcal for moderate restriction and under 500 mg per 1,000 kcal in advanced heart failure, never dipping below AAFCO's ~200 mg per 1,000 kcal minimum. That translates to roughly 495 mg daily for a 10 kg dog and 1,130 mg for a 30 kg dog at the moderate tier. Count treats, chews, and pill pockets in the total — and get your target in writing from your veterinarian.
Shop the Brands Mentioned in This Article
Find Open Farm, Crumps' Naturals, and other premium pet supplies in-store or Browse dog food online →.
This article is educational and does not replace veterinary care. Heart disease staging, sodium targets, diuretic dosing, and supplement use must be determined by your veterinarian, who can interpret your dog's echocardiogram and bloodwork. For general professional guidance, see the American Veterinary Medical Association. More reading on our dog blog.
