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Old March 14th, 2005, 04:26 PM
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poohbear123 poohbear123 is offline
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Why is corn so bad for dogs?

Hi,

I have been reading some the threads concerning food for dogs....I have a 2 1/2 yr old shepard/collie mix and when we got him he was eating Purina Alpo and I have seen that the first ingrediant in it is corn....why is corn so bad for dogs and why do they sell food if it is not good for them. What food should i switch him too? and how do I go about doing this? I have not asked my vet about this yet thought i would check on here first he is not due for shots or a check up until august. Thanks
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Old March 14th, 2005, 04:29 PM
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from what I understand, corn isn't fully digestible by dogs (nor humans). It's "bulk". It adds weight to the food, and the stool, but it's really not needed. If you feed a food with less bulk or fillers, you feed less, and they poop less.
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Old March 14th, 2005, 04:54 PM
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Natasa Natasa is offline
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Corn is not bad for them per se, just has 0 nutritional value and they don’t benefit from it in any way whatsoever. It’s a filler.

What I think people looking for in good kibble should look for is…..3 out of first 5 ingredients should be meat (not meat by products), no corn, no by products of any kind, no salt added and as natural preservatives as they come (not BHA or BHT known carcinogens).
Most kibbles will have some grains tho.
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Old March 14th, 2005, 04:55 PM
Trinitie Trinitie is offline
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Corn is filler that companies use to keep costs low. Animals can't digest the shell of the corn, so all corn does is result in more poop to clean up.
If the ingredient is Corn Gluten, that's different. Gluten is the inside of the kernel and is totally digestible.

A healthy dog food starts off with meat as one of, if not "the", first ingredient. The more an ingredient is used, the higher in the list it will be.
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Old March 14th, 2005, 05:08 PM
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I am not endorsing this product,but I have worked in pet feed stores before. Pet Valu currently has a very good food on the market,I switched my cat to it. There are no by-products and everything in it is human grade food. It is called Performatrin. It is in a very shiny bag,and the very first ingredient on my cats food is chicken,not chiken by-products or CORN!!!. Not sure for the dog food,but for certain not corn. It is almost holistic,my cats are loving it even though there are cranberries in it along with kelp and veggies and fruits-they love it. You can go into the store and purchase a sample pack for very little and give it a try.

Hope I have helped. Besides the type of food you are giving is not the best,it is more like cereal for dogs. If you prefer not to try the Performatrin,try othere like,Science diet,nutro,natural choice,nutrience.I really don't recommend I ams as it has a very high fat content to it. Any pet store should be able to direct you to the higher lines of dog food. It can be overwhelming in the store,but get your dog on a much better quality food.Itmay costmore,but they are all worth it
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Old March 14th, 2005, 05:16 PM
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LavenderRott LavenderRott is offline
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While Science Diet's prescription foods are good, it's regular dog food is not that good.

Most vets have about a semester of nutritional training, so they may or may not be aware of the by-products and other stuff loaded into that bag of dog food you are thinking about buying.

Also take into consideration that they sell dog food too. At least most of them do. Representatives come from the company and tell them what a wonderful product it is and why it is so great. Then they pay the vet to sell it out of their office.
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Old March 14th, 2005, 07:24 PM
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The thing about corn too is that in the long term (my doggie took 2 years...) many many many dogs become allergic to it and then you could have some major vet bills as a result. Most dogs just get ear infections or itchy fur, but others lose their fur and some may even develop benign tumors as a result of allergies ($$$).

Most of the middle range foods have corn in them somewhere and that might not be terrible for the doggy. When corn is the first ingredient, however, the dog is not getting the animal proteins it needs to stay healthy, have nice stools ( ), have high energy and have a shiny coat.
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Old March 14th, 2005, 08:19 PM
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Thanks for the tips. I purchased a bag of Nutro lite to mix with his food as he is also getting a little chunky. So we will see how it goes...he seems to like it so in 6-7 days he will be fully on Nutro. Anything that makes him poop less will be great!!
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Old March 14th, 2005, 08:35 PM
nuttynutmeg nuttynutmeg is offline
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Good to hear,you made a very wise choice changing the food. And very good of you to do the change over. That should usually go for about a week.
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