Pumpkin is a remarkably versatile fruit that can wiggle its way into the dinner menu in different ways. You can blend up some pumpkin and add it to soup, roast it to bring out its natural sweetness, or include it in that popular holiday treat known as pumpkin pie.
What you may not know is that there are some other great uses for pumpkin. Even your pet dog may be able to benefit from consuming some pumpkin from time to time.
Feeding your dog some pumpkin can help them combat certain issues. Learn more about that topic by continuing with the rest of this article.
Does Pumpkin Help Dog Diarrhea?
Diarrhea is a common ailment that many dogs deal with.
Sometimes, the bout of diarrhea is brought about by some kind of infection. In other cases, it may be a symptom of a more serious disease. Your dog may also be suffering from diarrhea currently because they ate something that isn’t sitting well in their stomach.
Usually, the bout of diarrhea clears up by itself and your dog is fine again. Still, you may want to give your pet some help as they combat that condition.
If you want to help out your pet dog who’s currently battling diarrhea, you should consider giving them some pumpkin.
Pumpkin contains a good amount of soluble fiber. That soluble fiber can firm up your dog’s stool. Furthermore, the soluble fiber in pumpkin can also regulate your dog’s bowel movements.
Try feeding your dog some pumpkin if you want their bout of diarrhea to clear up faster.
Pumpkin can do more than treat your dog’s diarrhea. It provides other benefits that can boost your pet’s health in different ways. Check out those additional benefits below.
Pumpkin Improves Digestive Health in Dogs
There are plenty of goodies found in pumpkins. Among the ones that can benefit your dog are prebiotics.
Prebiotics promote the growth of good bacteria inside your dog’s digestive tract. Your dog’s digestive health will improve significantly thanks to those prebiotics.
Pumpkin Helps with Constipation
Pumpkin can be just as helpful for combating constipation as it is for battling diarrhea. If you notice that your dog is having a tough time doing their business, adding some pumpkin to their food bowl will help.
Pumpkin Is a Healthy and Filling Treat
Feeding your dog some pumpkin can help fill them up faster. That’s a good thing because pumpkin is low in calories. Your dog can eat pumpkin somewhat regularly without putting on too much weight.
Pumpkin Delivers a Nutrient Boost
Important nutrients found in pumpkin include iron, potassium, vitamins A, C, E, and some antioxidants too. It’s a healthy treat for us and our dogs.
How Much Pumpkin for Dog Diarrhea?
We’ve established that pumpkin is a healthy treat for dogs. Does that mean that your dog can just eat as much pumpkin as they like? No, you should still avoid over-indulging your dog with pumpkin.
Just as with any other treat, giving too much pumpkin can still turn out to be a bad thing. The presence of vitamin A inside pumpkin means that it can be harmful to dogs if you give way too much.
Eating too much pumpkin can also cause dehydration. You should encourage your dog to drink more water while they’re eating pumpkin to avoid that issue.
Portioning out the amount of pumpkin you give your dog should also help them steer clear of those potential problems.
So, how much pumpkin should you give to your dog to treat their diarrhea? The appropriate amount will depend on the size of your pet.
Small dogs don’t need a lot of pumpkin. Scoop out about one or two teaspoons of pumpkin for them. Let them lick the teaspoon if they really like it.
Big dogs can handle more pumpkin. You can move up to a tablespoon of pumpkin if you want to help your dog who has diarrhea.
How Often to Give a Dog Pumpkin?
Now that you know the proper amount of pumpkin to feed your dog, let’s tackle the frequency of feeding.
If your dog has diarrhea, you can offer more pumpkin. Feed your dog the recommended about of pumpkin for their size two times per day at most.
You should start by only giving your dog one serving of pumpkin. Monitor them for a while and see if anything comes up. Hopefully, no issues arise so you can give them their second helping of pumpkin.
Continue feeding your dog pumpkin that way until their diarrhea clears up.
Remember that the frequency of serving pumpkin we just discussed is only for dogs suffering from diarrhea. You have to change things up if you only want to feed pumpkin as a nutrient boost.
Hold back a bit on giving your dog pumpkin. Turn it into an occasional treat instead of something you offer daily. As long as you feed your dog healthy food, they should still be able to meet their nutrient needs without the aid of pumpkins.
Does Canned Pumpkin Help Dog Diarrhea?
Before you rush out to get some pumpkin for your dog, you should find out which type is actually good for them. You see, not all types of pumpkins are good for dogs.
Feeding your dog some fresh pumpkin is a good idea. You don’t have to get fancy with it. Simply bake the pumpkin with no seasoning and wait until the flesh becomes soft.
Remove the flesh from the skin and start feeding it to your dog. You can also puree the roasted flesh if you so choose.
Canned pumpkin is also a fantastic choice for your dog. However, you must make sure that you buy the plain variant. Many spices can harm your dog so don’t feed your dog those flavored pumpkin purees.
Sugar-free canned pumpkin is also bad for your dog because of its ingredient list.
To serve the plain canned pumpkin, just pour it out and serve it to your dog. Heating the canned pumpkin could also make it more appealing to your pet.
Lastly, the pumpkin seeds can also double as doggy treats. Roast them without any spices before feeding them to your dog.