For some reason, they do. I have had a number of dogs, and they all love pumpkin. I never thought about it, but when carving our pumkin this year, my roommate’s dog attacked the pile of pumkin innards and would eat all I gave her. Of course I saved the seeds to toast up, but she just loved the stringy flesh. At that point I realized that dogs loving pumpkin wasn’t just a fluke, but a general charachteristic. Note to dog food manufacturers: Pumpkin is a flavor every dog I know loves.
So anyone out there with a dog, give them some pumpkin treat this time of year. Good for vitamins (most dogs don’t get enough veggies) and I have never seen any ill effect. Just don’t give them chocolate from the trick-or-treat bag!
The only risk is that those dogs with sensitive stomachs might get upset by having fresh veggies if they’re not used to it. I’d suggest that you just give them a little, and wait a couple hours to make sure it didn’t give them an upset stomach before giving them more.
I bet it tastes sweet to them, and that’s why they like it. Dogs seem to be like humans in that respect, but due to the lack of opposable thumbs, they can’t indulge their sweet tooth like we can.
My brother used to foster retired greyhounds, and one of the things he and his wife fed to the dogs was canned pumpkin. Racing dogs have to be kept very lean, leaner than is really healthy for them, so one of the things that the foster parents do is put a bit of weight on the dogs. And yeah, every single dog I’ve known likes pumpkin.
Cooked pumpkin is a good food supplement for dogs. I have always used canned pumpkin for both diarrhea and constipation, funny how it works equally well for either ailement! Be certain to either cook your own cleaned and skinned pumpkin, or use canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling.
Nope, not all dogs. My mom’s dog hates pumpkin, which drove my mother bonkers when the dog was a puppy, as it was a normal part of her puppy feeding routine.
This is the only dog I know of, though, who hates pumpkin.
My dog went to the vet with some difficulties, which I can’t recall just now, but the upshot was she wanted us to feed him some canned pumpkin, as its a natural diaretic for dogs.
He ate it most willingly, and she was right it worked directly for him.
Pumpkin is a handy tool in the raw diet for pets world for clearing up runny butts. Not “I’m sick and I need a vet” diarrhea, but “I got too much liver yesterday” runs. It’s also a good carrier for foods pets are reluctant to eat, and good for animals who’ve recently had GI surgery because it’s easy on the gut. The ArmadilloKitty ate a lot of canned pumpkin in the two weeks after having a gaint wad of string and bread twistyties removed from his guts.
In a somewhat random but holiday-pertinant aside, does anyone remember the Ramona books, by Beverley Cleary? There’s a scene in one of the books where money is tight, but they get a pumpkin for Haloween, and dad carves a beautiful jack-o-lantern. Meanwhile because of the budget they’ve been trying to get Picky-Picky (the cat) to eat a cheap brand of canned cat food (Puss-Puddy) which he hates. Middle of the night, Picky Picky munches on the jack-o-lantern and ruins it.
So evidently it’s not just dogs who love pumpkin, but some cats, too.
One of my dogs gets pumpkin every morning to make to, according to my vet, “increase the size of her fecal matter.” In other words, she needs to poop bigger. It helps with stinky anal glands. It seems to work, and she loves it.
The other dog gets pumpkin, too, just in the interest of fairness. He sometimes eats it, sometimes he doesn’t want it. So not all dogs love pumpkin.
My dog got put on a diet of “less dog food and a can of unsalted green beans” a couple years ago. She still gets her green beans every night.
The vet also said she’d probably like canned pumpkin so I have given it to her and she loves it lots!!
Although in an odd twist of fate, my mom happened to give my dog a couple tablespoons of squash yesterday and the dog puked everywhere. We figured that she’d be ok with squash since she was ok with canned pumpkin - but I guess not!
Yes, I read the Ramona books to my daughter until she outgrew them, and I remember that particular scene. The adults try to make pumpkin pie from the leftover jack-o-lantern, but Ramona questions whether they’ve removed all the bits with cat spit on them. Ruins everyone’s appetite. I always thought that Picky-Picky was a great name for a cat.
Our dogs have always loved corn, and the one we have now is a fiend for potato skins, with or without the potato insides. I’ve tried many times to start a compost pile, but that dog always digs out the vegetable scraps and eats them. So these days we just give her the veggie scraps with her daily can of dog food (she freefeeds from a bowl of kibble, and gets a can or two of dog food every evening).
Some of our cats have liked vegetables too. One of our current cats will eat asparagus before steak, and she will steal French fries whenever she can.
If my dogs thought I was going to put it in my mouth, they will gulp just about anything! I have a couple of dogs who are fascinated when I take my meds, and watch for any crumb I might drop. Which is how I learned that some human drugs do not metabolize the same in dogs, and there were some meds I didn’t have to freak over if one of the dogs ate one.
Another good food for diarrhea is plain boiled white rice. It’s easy on the tummy, and seems to slow down the bowels. It works in humans, too.
Just a quick fact, it’s not so much the size of the movement as it is the density, as a firmer (not necessarily larger) movement will cause pressure on the anal glands, causing them to express some of the fluid within, which is what the stinky things are there for. Backed up anal glands are so nasty…
My dogs get plenty of vegetables, lots of raw carrots for chewies, and I have a few who are extraordinarily fond of certain fruits.
I make this for my elderly dog as her after-bath treat. (She EXPECTS there to be a yummy food item waiting after she gets out of the tub and gets pissed if there isnt.) It doesn’t upset her tummy like a can of wet food can.
I add a bouillon cube to the water while I’m cooking the rice to give it a little flavor. She goes nuts over it.
My dog got ahold of some cantaloupe once too. Thankfully, he’ll throw up outside if he can help it, so I didn’t have to clean up the bright orange vomit.
It’s an October tradition to feed pumpkins to some of the zoo animals here, though I’m pretty sure they only feed them to true herbivores who should be eating them anyway. The elephants in particular seem to enjoy them a great deal. I suspect it would be the same with anything in the horse family too.
