THE MAIN INGREDIENT: EMPTY CALORIES
Claws and teeth tear at skin- not to harm, but to end the annoyance of itching and pain. Dogs are similar to humans in that they are prone to allergies. Just as a person might be allergic to grass, peanuts or dust, dogs can be prone to allergens in their environments and their diets. Corn is one of the most prominent allergens in dog diets, but is also one of the top ingredients in some of the most widely recognized brand name foods.
“Of course, dogs can have food allergies, and corn is one thing that they can be allergic to,” said Howard Robinson, DVM. “Most of them are not, of course, but it is one of the more common allergy causing proteins. Overall, I don’t think that it’s necessarily bad, but some dogs just don’t tolerate it very well.”
Dr. Robinson has practiced veterinary medicine for 24 years after receiving his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and graduating Cum Laude from Colorado State University with his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine in 1992, and currently practices at Raintree Animal Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado.
“The sugars in corn are highly fermentable so some dogs that eat corn can have flatulence as a side effect,” Robinson said.
Dog owner, Dominique Lopez, recently switched foods from a corn-based food to a dog food without corn.
“The first ingredient was a filler ingredient…corn,” Lopez said. “I switched because it was affecting my dog’s digestive system.”
Federally funded corn crops during and after World War II led to the invention of 'kibble' in 1956. Corn is an inexpensive carbohydrate and kibble needs the gelatinization that carbohydrates offer to hold the bites together. This allowed kibble companies to grow and become increasingly more profitable.
Dog food, by Purina, usually sports corn as the second or third ingredient in most types of their foods. Tina, a customer service representative from Purina, said she could not disclose her last name due to company policy, but after searching for the right answer on her computer, read from a rehearsed manuscript to cover common questions about the abundance of corn in their product.
"Many people believe that corn is a poorly digested filler that causes allergies…that’s just not true,” Tina said. “We have corn that is considered an excellent source of many nutrients. Based on the description, corn is certainly not a filler. Corn is highly abundant in antioxidants such as vitamin E and beta-carotene.”
A ‘filler’ in processed animal foods is an ingredient used to make the animal feel full while providing little nutrient.
According to the USDA’s National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, corn is an unremarkable protein and is very low on the nutritional scale with a nutritional number of only 34. Other vegetables and grains, such as wheat (48), sweet potatoes (55) and spinach (91), contain many more vitamins and minerals and contribute greater value to canine diets.
Poudre Pet and Feed Supply has provided residents of Northern Colorado and Southern Wyoming with over 50 different brands of animal feed for 28 years. The company’s employees are well versed in the common problems their customers may encounter when dealing with pet allergies. Adeline Thompson, a three-year employee at Poudre Pet and Feed Supply, has owned 23 animals including four horses, six dogs and 13 cats. She has also fostered more than 300 animals over the past 20 years for shelters such as Angels with Paws and Friends of Pets. Thompson is adamantly against the use of corn in a canine’s diet.
“Corn, corn meal and corn by-product serve minimal nutritional value to dogs and cats,” Thompson said. “First, corn is rather indigestible. It is merely a filler that is not absorbed by the animal but rather passed through their digestive tract and expelled as a waste product. Second, dogs and cats are carnivores. They would naturally eat meat and consume minimal vegetable content only from the stomachs of their prey. I try to mimic my animals’ natural diets as best as possible.”
“Corn is high in essential fatty acids,” the Purina representative, Tina, said.
As a carbohydrate, corn contains virtually no fat according to the USDA’s National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference. Meat should be the main source of essential fats in a dog’s diet and as beef contains 7.3 calories per gram, carbohydrates fall short at 3.5 calories per gram.
Dog owners might be afraid that a corn free food might break the bank, but there are options that might help to keep costs even more manageable than a food that contains corn.
“Foods without corn are sold at many specialty pet food stores,” Thompson said. “Corn-free foods are more cost efficient in the long run as they contain more digestible nutrients and less fillers. A food that has higher digestibility can be fed in smaller amounts when compared to a food with corn, as a greater percentage of food will be digested by the animal.”
Dogs that itch obsessively, get frequent ear infections, have bad gas or even have continuous small sores may have an allergy to corn. Experts say it is easy to take out one ingredient at a time to figure what exactly causes the problem, and it might be worth a try to discard corn first. Numerous dog food brands substitute corn and other high allergen grains for sweet potatoes or peas (53) in their foods. This allows the animal to still receive necessary vegetable protein, but to absorb more readily available nutrients before expulsion. The elimination of corn in a dog’s diet can greatly better its health.