Left-over Pumpkin? 🎃
With Halloween just around the corner and pumpkins filling the store shelves, why not think about adding some into your dog's diet? With its naturally-occurring fibre and rich concentration of vitamins, pumpkin has heaps of benefits for dogs.
Is pumpkin ok for dogs to eat?
The answer to this is yes! It can be a healthy part of a balanced diet, however like most foods too much pumpkin isn't so good, as an excess in fibre can cause digestive distress. Also, Vitamin A found in pumpkin can turn toxic if too much is consumed, so ensure to just give your dog small amounts at a time.
Pumpkin Benefits
This popular seasonal food is high in fibre, so promotes a healthy digestive system, and is low in calories, so can be a healthy snack! It is also a high carbohydrate food so it can keep your dogs energy levels slowly releasing through the day.
Pumpkins are rich in carotenoids, vitamin E, iron, and potassium. Carotenoids encourage skin health and eye health, while vitamin E acts as an anti-inflammatory and helps with heart function. Iron encourages the production of hemoglobin (a protein in red blood cells), and potassium ensures that muscles and nerves work properly.
What type of pumpkin can dogs eat?
Dogs can eat pumpkin that has been cooked, pureed and canned as long as there are no other additives in and it is purely pumpkin. Alternatively you could do this yourself and seed & steam the pumpkin. Raw pumpkin is fine to feed dogs as long as it is only in small amounts as it could have an effect on the dogs digestion. Also, remove the stem as it could splinter and cause damage or even a blockage.
Pumpkin Dog Biscuit Recipe
Ingredients:
260g Flour
130g Pureed Pumpkin
70g Peanut Butter
Preheat your oven to 190 degrees celcius
In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin & peanut butter.
Add in the flour, until the mixture forms a dough
Roll out the dough on a floured surface
Cut the dough into bone shapes
Place the dough onto an ungreased tray (use baking paper)
Bake for 12 minutes
Let your dog enjoy!