Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a common disease leading to heart failure, arrhythmia, and sudden death. The etiology of DCM is complex and diverse, and the mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. Conventional interventions have a limited ability to improve the prognosis of patients, who have a 10-year survival rate of less than 25%. This study aimed to summarize the construction and characteristics of a DCM animal model and evaluate the clinical compatibility of the model with traditional Chinese and Western medicines. Analysis was based on domestic and overseas research into DCM animal models, Western clinical diagnostic criteria, and traditional Chinese medicine syndrome differentiation. The DCM modeling method mainly involved gene editing, drug induction, immune induction, viral infection, and rapid pacing induction. Experimental animals included muroids, zebrafish, Drosophila, and pigs, of which mice and rats were most commonly used. Gene editing was the most commonly used method for modelling DCM, followed by doxorubicin-induction. In the literature, the experimental animals, drugs, single or cumulative doses, administration method, and modeling period used varied among studies involving DCM animal models. The level of clinical anastomosis according to traditional Chinese and Western medicines varied considerably, being generally lower in traditional Chinese medicine than Western medicine in the same model. In addition, the modeling standards for DCM animal models were mostly based on Western medicine theories. The differentiation of syndrome models and information collection for the four diagnoses have not been standardized and unified. In the future, stable and homogeneous animal models of high clinical consistency combining both disease and syndrome need to be established to provide a basis for DCM mechanism research and drug development.