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Monday, November 23, 2015

Dogs + Pumpkin = A Happy Thanksgiving For All!

Did you say pumpkin, Parental Unit? With Thanksgiving just days away here in the U.S., we're all going a little pumpkin crazy!
   
Both my personal cook Parental Unit and I love pumpkin, but neither of us learned until recently how good it is for dogs. Earlier this year, I had some, ahem, digestive troubles and nothing worked, including a special bland diet or withholding food for 24 hours. I thought I'd have to pay a visit to the vet and take antibiotics, but just a few tablespoons of plain pumpkin saved the day!

There are many ways pumpkin can benefit your dogs' health, including the aforementioned digestive troubles (it works like a miracle for both diarrhea and constipation), and even weight loss—you can feed your pooch a bit less of his or her regular food and substitute a tablespoon or so of pumpkin—the fiber helps keep Rover full.

It's important to use pure, cooked pureed pumpkin, not canned pumpkin pie mix, or at the other end of the spectrum, raw pumpkin straight from the, well, pumpkin. In addition to adding plain pumpkin to your dog's diet as a food topper, you can also add it to homemade treats. There are seemingly endless dog biscuit receipes that include pumpkin, but here's one from Rachel Ray that's nice and simple, and something a bit different from the Maryland SPCA that sounds delicious to us. And check out this entire Pinterest  Board full of pumpkin dog treat recipes!

 Keep in mind that Parental Unit has never made me homemade dog biscuits, so she can't vouch for any of these recipes. She vows to try at least once, though, and you'll be the second to see her handiwork (after my taste test!).


How many of you have fed your dog this beautiful orange fruit, either plain or disguised in a biscuit? Please let us know!

P.S. In the next day or so, we'll be bringing you a very special book review and giveaway: Dr. Jessica Vogelsang's charming and witty memoir, "All Dogs Go To Kevin. Everything Three dogs Taught Me (That I Didn't Learn In Veterinary School)" Hint: We loved it!

5 comments:

Sheltie Times said...

Thanks for the hint.

Kinley Westie said...

I luvs pumpkin!

Ruby Rose and the Big Little Angels 3 said...

We use pumpkin when either one of us have a bad stomach. Without getting into details Pocket is getting some pumpkin right now

Ruby Rose and the Big Little Angels 3 said...

We use pumpkin when either one of us have a bad stomach. Without getting into details Pocket is getting some pumpkin right now

Duke said...

Mom is grocery shopping today. Pumpkin needs to go at the top of her list!

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