Why You Should Check For Corn in Your Dog Food

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Why You Should Check for Corn in Your Dog Food

dog eating food Dogs are a beautiful creature as they will eat pretty much anything you put under their snout. Roast beef? Munch that right up. Sloppy dog food? Down the hatch. Something that got drug in the house from my shoe? Om nom nom. But because dogs are so…simple in their approach to eating, it’s all the more important for us as their owners to ensure they’re getting the best possible food, and one of the simplest things we can do is to take a look at their bag of food and see what the first ingredient is. Is it corn? Time to get some new dog food.

The permeation that corn has had on the world of food is astounding. Actually, its reign is not simply limited to foods as it plays a huge part in pretty much everything under the sun. But specifically, the majority of dog foods use corn as the first and main ingredient. It’s easy to see if the bag in front of you is something your dog can live healthily on or just a bunch of corn feed as all you need to do is locate the ingredients portion and look for the first item. If it says corn or corn starch or cornmeal or something with the word “corn” in it, then it is what the majority of the food nuggets consist of.

Okay, so just feeding corn to a dog can’t be a terrible thing, right? Humans eat corn and dogs eat garbage, so some corn in their diet can’t be harmful, can it? The answer is both yes and no. Corn on its own is not harmful. Mixing corn with anything doesn’t make it harmful either. But corn is not a super food and doesn’t have an abundance of nutrition. It has some, but not nearly enough to account for all aspects of a dog’s diet.

Probably the biggest reason I can give you avoiding corn-heavy dog foods is that while dogs can always eat and aren’t usually very picky, packing them full of corn is like feeding them junk food, meaning that they don’t fill up as well and end up getting hungry quicker or demanding more food even after finishing their current meal. That’s because corn works best as a filler, and basing an entire diet on filler only leaves quite a bit to be desired.

Furthermore, corn is very fattening if it’s the primary food in one’s diet. A dog being raise on corn-based food is going to get heavier and heavier, as well as a bit more sluggish than he should be. Even with the assumption that you can balance the fattening effects of corn with extra exercise, the damage is going to be done as the proper nutrition isn’t being achieved.

With my dog, we go with the cheapest bag of food that doesn’t include corn in it. Right now I believe it’s roughly $25 for the largest bag at Costco, which we only have to purchase once about every month and a half. The increased nutrition has given him more energy, less cravings, and helped him stay slimmer than he’d otherwise be. Plus, as strange as it may sound, he has to poop significantly less, which is nice as I’m not a huge fan of dealing with that more than I really have to.

So when you’re in the grocery store and looking for a new bag of dog food, absolutely check the ingredients, just like you’d do with your own food. See if corn is the number one ingredient. If so, pass it up and look for something else. Spending a few dollars more now may end up saving you a lot more money later on.