# health benefits to feeding dogs pumpkin



## BertieBassett (Sep 18, 2011)

Hi

Bertie loves cooked pumpkin and its so good for them i have copied and pasted an article i have read, i have been buying a fresh pumpkin you can either roast it or steam it and they will love it.........

Two common canine ailments are diarrhea and constipation. *Did you know that canned pumpkin can offer a solution to both?
Diarrhea is more a symptom rather than a disease and is typically a sign that something is wrong with your dog’s digestive system. A lot of things can cause diarrhea in your dog; it may have eaten something that disagrees with its body, it may have food allergies, bacterial or viral infection or a worm infestation. It may even be due to a change in its diet.
In normal cases, diarrhea has a surprisingly simple solution: canned pumpkins. Canned pumpkin is actually pumpkin in a puree form. Pumpkins are very rich in fiber and even adding two teaspoons of canned pumpkin in you dog’s food helps the digestion process. Canned pumpkin has a large quantity of dietary fiber and it will also absorb the excess water present in the stool. This makes your dog’s stool more firm and results can be seen within a few hours. Give your small dog one and a half to two teaspoons of canned pumpkin. For a larger dog give two tablespoons instead.
Another benefit of canned pumpkin is in treating dogs for constipation. It softens your dog’s stool and can cure an upset stomach very quickly. This makes canned pumpkins one of the best natural remedies to your dog’s stomach problems.
Canned pumpkin also makes a great addition to dog treats. *Just add some canned pumpkin to your favorite dog treat recipes to give Fido a healthy treat.
Canned pumpkin is low in saturated fat, sodium and cholesterol. *It is also a good source of Vitamin E, Magnesium, Phosphorus and Potassium and is also a very good source of dietary fiber. *Some vets even recommend canned pumpkin for weight loss in dogs. *Simply substitute one-third of your dog’s regular food with an equivalent amount of canned pumpkin. *Because it is high in fiber, canned pumpkin will make your dog fuller than it would if you just reduced their caloric intake.
You can find canned pumpkin in the baking section of most grocery stores.


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## Lozzie (Apr 1, 2012)

Very cool! I've got three pumpkins I need to turn into Jack'o'lanterns and have been looking up human food recipies to use the flesh- now I'll be letting the pups enjoy some of it too!


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## wilfiboy (Sep 18, 2010)

Great post Lucy thanks x


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## Lynn<3 (Jul 4, 2011)

I used pumpkin for Amiee Jane when she had diarrhea last year and it worked.


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## Cat 53 (Aug 26, 2012)

Wow that is so interesting. Love random facts like this. You watch the price of pumpkins go up as we all start buying it for our dogs!


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## Lozzie (Apr 1, 2012)

Asda have loads in for Halloween, selling them off at something like 2 for £1!! And there's me buying 3 for £10 from a local farm a week ago


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## Duckdog (Jul 23, 2012)

So I have kept the innards of our pumpkin for Binky...do I cook it? I am assuming so....


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## Very muddy (Jun 8, 2012)

This is really interesting. I made some pumpkin soup out of our lantern insides and mixed a couple of spoonfuls in monty's kibble for dinner last night. I thought it might liven it up for him but didn't realise it was a health benefit too! Great tip about the upset tummies too.


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## wilfiboy (Sep 18, 2010)

Mines going in this morning I'm just going to mash it in raw x


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## Alinos (May 19, 2014)

Zorro's poo is slightly on the loose side and I tried pumpkin for the last 3 days. Not much luck. He doesn't exactly have diarrhea. He poops about 4 times a day but it's not firm. Is there anything else that I could try? Right now he's on a high end grain free kibble along with boiled chicken. 


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## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

It might be that the kibble is not suiting him so would be worth trying something with a different protein source. It could even be the chicken which is not suiting him so worth trying without that too.


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## wellerfeller (Jul 12, 2011)

If he's on a high end, no grain puppy kibble then it may well be the extra chicken. Puppy kibble is high in protein anyway so the chicken may be overloading the protein. I would leave the chicken out and see how he goes.


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## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

Alinos said:


> Zorro's poo is slightly on the loose side and I tried pumpkin for the last 3 days. Not much luck. He doesn't exactly have diarrhea. He poops about 4 times a day but it's not firm. Is there anything else that I could try? Right now he's on a high end grain free kibble along with boiled chicken.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Possibly too much protein with added chicken. Why do you add chicken to the kibble? I would cut it out, or try chicken and rice for a few days and gradually reintroduced kibble.


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## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

wellerfeller said:


> If he's on a high end, no grain puppy kibble then it may well be the extra chicken. Puppy kibble is high in protein anyway so the chicken may be overloading the protein. I would leave the chicken out and see how he goes.


Did not see this! I replied from first post in thread! 

Great minds!

In this case, I agree with Karen


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## Lexi&Beemer (May 5, 2013)

I had similar issues with Beemer and no grain high end kibble - too rich and poop that needed extra wipes to clean up (bleh). But now they are on raw it is all protein with bone. And their poops are always solid - except for when they are fed beef muscle (they still get beef organ meat and tripe). I wonder what about the process of making kibble concentrates the protein like that. 


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## wellerfeller (Jul 12, 2011)

I wonder this too!!! How do they get protein levels so high in kibble, as I also feed raw (natural insticnt) and the protein level in the salmon and chicken flavour is 13.2%


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## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

The difference is the amount of water in your food compared to the dry food. Something like Wainwrights wet food will typically be something like 75% water. It means if you are looking at fat levels (as I have to for Molls diet) or just comparing wet with dry food you need to compare on a dry matter basis

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/choosing-dog-food/dry-matter-basis/


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## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

The differences when taking the water content into account are very interesting indeed.

As well as that I think that when feeding raw or good quality wet, it is more natural, less processed which makes the food more gentle to the digestive system. I fed kibble before moving to raw and both girls did well on it, however the slightest increase in the amount meant poos were a lot softer and more frequent (though not runny, we've always been lucky with no tummy issues related to food). They also drank a huge amount of water, had a real thirst. 

It's a minefield when it comes to feeding, you have to go with what you are comfortable.


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## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

It is indeed a minefield - I had to learn fast when Molly was first diagnosed with pancreatitis and I had to totally change her diet. I had actually thought I was feeding a relatively low fat food up until that point


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