Question:
I have heard different opinions in the industry about the digestability of corn in pet foods of different species.
Dogs, I have read several times, are not really equipped to digest corn. (Which makes it SO WRONG that it's such a major ingredient in most dog food....).
Cats CAN digest it, but it's largely filler. Although the gluten is a source of protein....
Chinchillas should avoid it because of the mycotoxin threat- wasn't Mazuri supposed to be taking it out?
Just wondering what others have heard about corn lately.


Answer:
This is what I don't understand...the pellets are cooked right? So wouldn't it make sense to heat them to the point that the myotoxins are killed or at least decreased? Or would that require extreme heat?
I took a look around at some horse sites and found some interesting information.
Here's some articles...feel free to comment.
This article talks about the myotoxins in the corn and how it can kill horses, pigs and cause illness in humans.
http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/html3...fumonisin.html
Feeding corn to horses
http://www.horses-and-horse-informat...0395corn.shtml
This was taken from http://www.equiworld.net/uk/horsecar...nergyneeds.htm
On the other hand, grains are low in fiber. They supply large amounts of carbohydrates (starch) as compared to forages. If allowed free access, most horses will consume enough grain to cause digestive upset. The most common problem with equine over-eating is the consumption of too much starch in a single feeding.
So it appears that any grain can cause digestive problems if too much is consumed because of the starch.
This is interesting as well...
Corn sometimes has a bad reputation as a horse feed and for good reasons. Corn is more energy dense and heavier than oats, so a direct substitution of corn for oats will lead to overfeeding. Also, corn is not balanced for nutrients. It contains about 71% starch, 8% protein, 4% fat, and only 2% fiber. But, worst of all, the starch in corn is not well digested in the foregut, unless the corn is ground and pelleted or extruded. Most of the starch from whole or cracked corn (70%) is not digested in the foregut and proceeds to the hindgut where it is rapidly fermented. That process produces lactic acid, which lowers the pH and kills many beneficial fiber-digesting bacteria. Dying bacteria release toxins, and the result can be a horse with colic and/or laminitis resulting in founder. For these reasons, corn must be processed for all horses, and should not make up more than 25% of a pelleted feed. Grain screenings often contain potentially lethal mycotoxins and should never be used in horse feeds.
from http://www.moormans.com/equine/FFpdf...eNutrition.htm
This article suggests that there is nothing wrong with ground corn because the starch is broken down. I had heard this before (maybe from Mazuri) so maybe the ground corn in some pellets isn't as bad as we thought?
Most of the sites I went to claimed that corn was okay to feed to horses as long as it was rationed properly (becuase of it's high energy value)...I'm not exactly sure how relevant this is to chins...


Answer:
I haven't had time to research this extensively but I also heard that corn that has been broken down is easier to digest than whole grains of corn. I'll post more when I've done more reading. But for now, I think that corn shouldn't be labelled the 'bad' ingredient prematurely.


Answer:
I agree with Diana. Corn has a bad reputation. It is a great source of carbohydratees, therefore energy, and also is high in linonic acid. No grains should be overfed and as far as it being misused in feeds, it's probably the ignorance of the feed companies.


Answer:
I found that both Cub & Hank prefer foods that are lower, or without, corn content. But I think Diana & I discussed this a while back & we concluded that it was corn allergies due to overuse (like wheat) that was one main problem, & cheap, mycotoxin-afflicted "feed grade" corn that was the other main complaint. So I continue to avoid it for the most part, but I eat it myself....


Answer:
This is an excerpt from the book 'Food Pets Die For' by Ann N. Martin http://www.homevet.com/petcare/foodbook.html:
The main ingredient in dry food for dogs and cats is corn. However, on further investigation, I found that according to the AAFCO, the list is lengthy as to the corn products that can be used in pet food. These include, but are not limited to the following ingredients.
Corn four is the fine-size hard flinty portions of ground corn containing little or none of the bran or germ.
Corn bran is the outer coating of the corn kernel, with little or none of the starchy part of the germ.
Corn gluten meal is the dried residue from corn after the removal of the larger part of the starch and germ, and the separation of the bran by the process employed in the wet milling manufacture of corn starch or syrup, or by enzymatic treatment of the endosperm.
Wheat is a constituent found in many pet foods. Again the AAFCO gives descriptive terms for wheat products.
Wheat flour consists principally of wheat flour together with fine particles of wheat bran, wheat germ, and the offal from the "tail of the mill." Tail of the mill is nothing more then the sweepings of leftovers after everything has been processed from the week.
Wheat germ meal consists chiefly of wheat germ together with some bran and middlings or shorts.
Wheat middlings and shorts are also categorized as the fine particles of wheat germ, bran, flour and offal from the "tail of the mill."
Both corn and wheat are usually the first ingredients listed on both dry dog and cat food labels. If they are not the first ingredients, they are the second and third that together make up most of the sources of protein in that particular product. Perhaps the pet food industry is not aware that cats are carnivores and therefore should derive their protein from meat, not grains?
I agree, I believe that it is the quality of the corn, not just the fact that corn is present in the food. Many common brands of pet food don't use high quality corn in their product and I believe that is what causes the problem.


Answer:
I wonder where "ground corn" fits in?