RE: (alfalfa/corn) - carnivorous dogs

As with any nutrition, if an organism is not able to utilize the substance provided then the substance passes through the body undigested. This is shown with your corn example with dogs.
If an animal is unable to break the outer surface of the seed corn, the corn will not be digested; thus, in such a case, it holds no nutritional value. I have never encountered this in any of the proccessed feeds I have used; however, I also know that I have not tried all of the feeds on the market, nor do I want to.
I believe the person who responded to the comment about carnivorous dogs just wanted to point out that dogs are not carnivores in the scientific sense, rather that they are omnivores. Omnivores include a large number of animals. These animals eat plant matter in addition to animal matter (or vice-versa). Baleen whales were mentioned, and I believe (though could easily be mistaken) they they are classified as omnivores. Their diet consists of plankton which are very small (particulate) organisms including plants and animals.
On the other hand, you have the other two board categories: herbivores and carnivores. Herbivores only eat plant matter. Animals in this category include such examples as horses, and (just to add some flare) manatees.
Now for the troubling carnivore category. There are very few strict carnivores. Even the mentioned felines, I have watched eat grass; I have not spect time observing orcas, so I can not respond to the possibility that they might also eat some sort of vegetable matter on occasion.
Some of the lines between each of these areas are gray rather than black and white. For example, public opinion believes white tailed deer are herbivores; however, they will (and do) eat eggs and chicks.
Also, most people are under the misconception that their house bird (macaw, cockatiel, amazon, etc) needs to eat a limited diet (the worst of all being those mixed seed diets sold in stores), this could not be further from the truth. Many psittacines, in addition to eating seeds (a very very small percentage in most bird species), require fresh vegetable matter (greens, fruits, and vegetables), and many will also eat insects and other meat products. (A quick note: there are some very specialized psittacines. And example being, lories, which fed mainly on pollen, nectar, and fruit. Thus must include pollen in their diet or they will not be healthy.)
These categories though, do not cover nearly all of the feeding classifications...... there are animals that feed predominately on nector, others on seeds, still others on detritis (decomposing matter); there are insectivores, and do not forget about parasites... and so on.
I know that I am very far off the original topic (being, if I remember correctly, the use of alfalfa pellets rather than rabbit pellets as fertilizer); however, there is mearly one point the I am getting at. The fact is that there are more levels to nutrition, of any living organism (including iris), than most of us will ever understand.

Sincerly,
Karen Breker
North Dakota

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