Wednesday, October 19, 2011

for the love of corn

Back in July, when I was over visiting my friend Lisa, I got to see her dog, Gromit, eat corn on the cob. I was very impressed.

Gromit, eating corn on the cob

From The Guide for Lifelong Health by Hills Pet Foods:
Corn is NOT a filler. It is superb source of nutrients such as:
  • Essential fatty acids - for healthy skin and coat
  • Beta-carotene, Vitamin E, Lutein - nature's antioxidants
  • Highly digestible carbohydrates - for energy
  • Quality proteins - for muscle and tissue growth
Cooked corn is highly digestible. The protein in corn is more digestible than that of rice, wheat, barley or sorghum.
I have a hard time picturing feral cats hunting and eating corn, but whatever. I do know that Theo has a thing for corn in whatever form he can get. He has stolen corn tortilla chips right from the bag and he has chowed down on the World's Best Cat Litter (ground up corn), which is why we don't use it.

Laura recently cooked up some corn on the cob for lunch. After eating most of the corn and feeling inspired by Lisa feeding Gromit corn on the cob, I let Theo have a go. He loved it!




Laura had cooked four cobs of corn, we ate two for lunch and the other two were sitting out on the stove cooling down. About twenty minutes later, Laura went to put away the extra corn, but she only found one cob remaining. Sure enough, Theo had absconded with it and carried it to the dining room, where I found him working it over.

Notice how he uses his paw to steady the cob while he chomps away.


The lesson from all this: never feed Theo a human food, because if he likes it he will always be after it!

7 comments:

  1. Too funny! You may not be able to picture a feral hunting corn but Theo apparently hunted this unfortunate ear and enjoyed his plunder!

    ReplyDelete
  2. LOL! That's hilarious! We don't touch any human food, not even meat or fish.

    The mom says Hills is full of you-know-what (to $ell their product) and that *obligate carnivores* need to get their sustenance from muscle meat, not grains. And that in the wild our diet is only 3% to 5% grain, not the 40%-50% found in Hills dry cat food. And that a cat's inner workings were not designed to derive nutrients from grains at all. BUT--dogs are different, and so we assume corn is fine for them!

    (And we think the mom better get off her soapbox...It's just that this kind of idiocy from pet food companies, in relation to CAT food, drives her batty. Battier.)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Now I want to try some corns, too!

    ReplyDelete
  4. OMC - that is too funny!!! Guess now you are going to have to add "hide the corn" to the Theo's list of things to know about him. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Next thing you know he will be using his opposing claw/thumbs!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Haha! This is a cute post. I've never seen a cat eat corn before. Dog yes, cat no. Though my cat does eat unshelled peas and celery! :)
    xo Catherine

    ReplyDelete
  7. That is funny :) My Sammy will eat corn on the cob if I hold it, but he has never swiped his own.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for sending in your comments!