<<Back to Library Do-It-Yourself Digestive Help A rather"Corny" view of animal food Corn - the largest grain crop grown in North America. We eat it; feed it to the cows, pigs, chickens and turkeys that we then eat; break it apart into food colorings, additives, corn starch, high fructose corn syrup and oil. We praise it for its low cost, diversity, digestibility, essential fatty acids. We malign it as a source of food allergies in pet foods. Take a close look at the corn that is fed to our animals. I prefer not to feed grains at all to my dogs and cats: they cannot properly digest starch. Mother Nature never provided a big crock-pot of cooked cereal in the wild. Nevertheless, most animal foods for animals from horses to cats are grain based. Grains are cheap and filling. But are they healthy? Recent studies show that whole corn does not cause food allergies in pets; processed corn does. Most animal foods are not made with whole, chemical, mold-free corn. Their recipes include what remains after processing corn for things like corn oil. We get oil when we squeeze a peanut or an olive. Have you ever cut corn off the cob? What do you get when the fresh kernels get squeezed? Corn milk. To create corn oil the corn goes through a petroleum distillation process. The remaining corn meal is full of petroleum residue, which is largely to blame for many allergy symptoms and other illnesses. A large problem in the grain industry is also a fungus that produces aflatoxins. Aflatoxins are remarkably potent, capable of causing disease even when ingested in minute amounts. Aflatoxins can cause disease throughout the body, but are most commonly known for causing liver disease and liver cancer. When grains have too high a level of aflatoxins for human foods they get used in animal foods. You may remember the Diamond pet foods recall last December after the discovery that the food was causing pet deaths because it was too high in aflatoxins. Diamond was not the only feed manufacturer to use poor quality grains - they just got caught. In my opinion, most grocery store brand pet foods and mixed sweet feeds for horses are simply an excuse to sell us agri-waste. Whole, tested chemical free corn can be an excellent nutrient source. I recommend you read product labels and website literature. Check those ingredients! If you feed your dog or cat a grain-based food, look for ones that use human grade meats and grains. Look for products from manufacturers who state in writing that they are non-chemically preserved. Is your horse is getting enough exercise to need grain? Consider making your own COB out of cracked, whole corn, race horse oats and crimped barley. My best nutritional advise for healthier animals is to feed them a diet that replicates what they ate in the wild. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any person or animal. The opinions given are my own and not intended to replace the advise of your veterinarian. I am not a veterinarian but a Bio- Nutritional Therapist specializing in alternative approaches toward animal health and well being.