Corn is bad and the pet industry is disgusting

[Liung]

I'm in the animal care field as a career so I've known for a while that the pet industry cares not a speck about whether or not products will harm the animals they're intended for.

Marrow bones getting stuck on dog's jaws, rawhide being made with formaldehyde, hamster balls in general...

But it often feels to me like rabbits in particular get shafted even more than any other animal. Small animals as a whole suffer from their owners being sold pine and cedar shavings, cages that are far too small and downright dangerous to them, food that doesn't even come close to catering to their needs... but rabbits? By being lumped in with small animals, products are produced for small animals constantly that are dangerous specifically to rabbits. Seed based treats are seen filling the aisles of pet stores, aimed at rabbits as well as hamsters and guinea pigs. But at least it is okay for rabbits to eat seeds in extremely small amounts. There's some small justification for marketing seed treats for rabbits.

The other day, my fiancé came home with something he'd seen in the pet store and thought Lahi and Delilah might enjoy.

View attachment ImageUploadedByRabbit Forum1508779170.242234.jpg

It's got a rabbit on the label, so he figured it was fine. I told him to wait and let me check if it was safe.

View attachment ImageUploadedByRabbit Forum1508779212.198006.jpg

It is not safe. It is not even close to safe. And I don't really know why I'm surprised at this point, but I am. Surprised and most of all, disgusted. Why is this even legal? How can they market a product for an animal that is actively harmful? It makes me sick.

 

[Blue eyes]

Yes. I agree. Corn kernels are one ingredient that sadly keeps popping up as being ok for rabbits. But the hulls of the individual kernels are indigestible. I share your frustration. I was just last night and this morning tweaking my rabbit website to add some photos of "don't buy these" treats.

I found these no-no treats being marketed as fine for rabbits (with rabbit photo on packaging).

 

[maiyaeh]

not only these starchy products, they have yogurt drops and dried papaya for buns as well. When I was a new bun slave, i bought those dried papaya for my queen. i tried it and it was sooooo sweet. knowing that bunnies should not eat things sweet, I ended up eating the papaya

 

[Nancy McClelland]

The price of keeping companion animals healthy is eternal vigilance.

 

[wetarez]

Thank you for posting & I agree. we must be ever vigilant. I feed Sherwood Forest pellets (no grain or soy), hay, a few fresh veggies & a few safe to feed leaves off the lilac bush and cottonwood tree.

 

[Preitler]

That about that "undigestible hull" argument is new to me, does any one know a source for that, or have personal experience with it? I mean, quite a big percentage of what rabbits eat is not digestible, and the hulls get chewed to small pieces (no whole kernels get swallowed like we humans do), and I've seen farmers feeding corn to meat rabbits without relevant short term problems. If this were the actual problem, ground up corn in rabbit food would be ok, but as far as I know it isn't good either.

Sure, corn is bad - wreaks havoc on their teeth, calories nobunny needs, and starch that can cause digestion problems like yeasts and gas and stuff. Enough ammunition to confront the pet food companies with - would be interesting how they would defend selling two dried corn cobs, absolutly no good rabbit food, for 2.95$, I mean, one can get about 10kg good qulity organic corn for that, for whatever. Besides it being wrong anyway I would call that quite a margin.:rollseyes

 

[Blue eyes]

That about that "undigestible hull" argument is new to me, does any one know a source for that, or have personal experience with it?

Dana Krempels, PhD
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/diet.html

(You'll have to scroll to the bottom of that article to see about the corn hulls. That's one source where I've read it.)

 

[Liung]

would be interesting how they would defend selling two dried corn cobs, absolutly no good rabbit food, for 2.95$, I mean, one can get about 10kg good qulity organic corn for that, for whatever. Besides it being wrong anyway I would call that quite a margin.:rollseyes

Yeahhhhh but that's pretty standard for the pet industry. Buy a bag of hay for $24.95 from a store or buy an entire bale about 5x the size from a farmer for $6.95?

I did actually confront a store owner about that once and they told me the reason pet store hay is so much more expensive is that it's been cleaned of bugs, parasite, dirt, and other nasty things. Having actually been hay baling myself I grant that the amount of insects and creepy crawlies is disgusting, and I've never seen that in my bagged hay... but I've also talked to people selling baled hay and they called utter bull**** on that claim, so, who knows.

Either way the markup on pretty much anything sold in a pet store ever is ludicrous.

 

[Liung]

Also keep in mind I'm in Canada, not the US, so my prices are going to be significantly higher than yours xD