Pumpkin has all kinds of positive health benefits for your pets, finally a nutritious people food you can share with your pets! Now, this doesn’t mean to feed your dog or cat leftover pumpkin pie from Thanksgiving or the pumpkin you may still have on your porch from Halloween.
Fiber
Pumpkins have about 3 grams of fiber per one cup serving. Fiber helps your pet with the following.
- Sense of fullness
- Weight loss
- Feline constipation (may become an issue as cats age)
- Help pets dealing w/ diarrhea (happens when food is changed)
Moisture
In case you didn’t know, pumpkin is a fruit not a vegetable and it is mostly 90% water. This moisture is great for fur babies that has a diet of mainly dry food.
Other Benefits
- High in vitamin C (one cup has at least 11mg)
- When cooked, pumpkin has more potassium than bananas
- Pumpkin seeds- rich in omega 3s, which has an anti-inflammatory effects
- Anti cancer effect
tip1- Pumpkins seeds should be cleaned and baked before eaten by pets or humans. Needs to be fed one-by-one or crushed in meals. Too much seeds can cause stool to be really soft, due to fat content.
tip2- Don’t give your pets pumpkin pie filling, because it is full of sugar, spices, and preservatives that are very harmful. If you don’t care to carve, purchase natural pumpkin in glass jars. Pumpkin can be cooked or baked for a healthy snack.