9 Surprising Health Benefits of Pumpkin for Dogs
Autumn is just around the corner, bringing with it a wave of pumpkin EVERYTHING. From pumpkin spice lattes to pumpkin pie, the options are endless. However, pumpkin season isn’t just for us! Adding pumpkin to your dog’s diet is not only a delicious treat but also a great source of nutrition. Check out these 9 surprising health benefits of pumpkin for dogs.
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When we think of the autumn season, there are a few things that will instantly come to mind…
Cozy sweaters, colourful leaves, Halloween, and, of course, the return of pumpkin spice to all our favourite stores and cafes.
The pumpkin spice craze is everywhere, including lattes, candles, baked goods, bath products, and more.
Love it or hate it, you can’t deny that pumpkin is king this time of year!
What many people fail to realize is that this seasonal favourite can also be considered a ‘power food’ when considering your dog’s nutritional needs.
Packed with vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids, this is a special treat that both you and Fido will go crazy for!
In fact, after reading this list of health benefits, you’ll want to include pumpkin in your dog’s diet on a regular basis.
Don’t believe me? Read on…
Check Out These 9 Surprising Health Benefits of Pumpkin for Dogs:
#1 – Digestion
Pumpkin is high in fibre and moisture content, making it a great digestive aid.
For this reason, many veterinarians will recommend adding a small amount of pureed pumpkin (without added sugar or spice) to your dog’s food if they are experiencing an upset stomach.
This will work to promote regular bowel movements, helping to relive both constipation and diarrhea.
Simply add some pumpkin puree to your dog’s regular food, and you’ll be surprised how quickly it can start to make a difference!
NOTE: Diarrhea, constipation and upset stomach can be a sign of a bigger health problem.
If your dog continues to show signs of not feeling well after the introduction of pumpkin to their diet, contact your veterinarian to discuss the next steps.
#2 – Improved Immunity
Packed with vitamins A and C, pumpkin is a great solution to help boost your dog’s immune system.
There has been a lot of discussions recently about the importance of good health and improving our immune systems in order to keep ourselves safe from illness.
Our pups are also susceptible to a number of viruses that can make them sick!
The best thing that we can do for them is to provide the necessary nutrition to optimize their immune system, helping them to stay happy and healthy.
#3 – Shiny, Healthy Coat
We’ve all seen those dogs with their beautiful, shiny coats, looking as though they have just returned from a pamper session with the local groomer.
However, many dog owners overlook the impact of diet on the condition of their dog’s coat.
Pumpkin is a great option to help promote healthier skin and coat.
This works by boosting your dog’s water intake with its high moisture levels as well as with key nutrients, including both zinc and vitamin A.
As an added bonus, improved skin and coat health will help decrease shedding, cutting back on the amount of hair all over your clothes and your home!
#4 – Slow Aging and Protect Your Dog’s Joints
This is an important benefit for those of us with older dogs at home.
While there is no magical solution to prevent aging (we all wish that there was), the vitamins in pumpkin will help slow the impact of aging on your dog’s overall health and well-being.
Antioxidants in pumpkin will fight free radicals in your dog’s body.
Free radicals are molecules that damage the DNA within your dog’s body by stealing electrons, leading to premature aging and disease.
Vitamins A and C will also work to protect your dog’s joints at a time in their lives when many are struggling with stiffness or the onset of arthritis.
Related: ‘10 Must-Have Products for Senior Dogs‘
#5 – Urinary Health
Pumpkin is a significant source of Omega 3 fatty acids, which have been associated with improved urinary health.
This is one of the lesser known health benefits of pumpkin worth discussing!
With both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, pumpkin helps to prevent urinary tract infections and urinary incontinence.
It can even help to dislodge kidney stones!
For these reasons, pumpkin and pumpkin seeds are often seen as a great solution for older dogs that are suffering from an overactive bladder.
#6 – Intestinal Parasites
Whether your dog has been drinking from a puddle of contaminated water or eating something they shouldn’t, you may find yourself faced with the reality of intestinal parasites or worms.
These unwanted guests can lead to:
- Dry Skin
- Weight Loss
- Diarrhea
- Upset Stomach
- Loss of Appetite
- Lethargy
Along with many other signs of nutritional deficiency.
This is unpleasant and uncomfortable for your dog and can have serious side effects if left untreated.
NOTE: You should NOT rely on pumpkin as a substitute for your dog’s usual worm preventative.
That being said, it can work as a natural wormer to help both prevent and expel unwelcome parasites.
This is due to the presence of a compound called cucurbitacin.
Using this in conjunction with the recommended medication from your veterinarian can help to improve the final outcome.
However, you should ALWAYS consult your vet before making changes or additions to their recommended course of treatment.
#7 – Improve and Protect Vision
Vitamin A and beta-carotene are known for their ability to promote better eye health in humans, but did you know that this is also true for your dog?
Not only can adding pumpkin to your dog’s diet help to improve their vision now, but it can also work to prevent eye degeneration including conditions like night blindness.
After all, we all want to do everything possible to prevent our furry family members from any unnecessary complications as they get older!
#8 – Improved Hydration
With many dogs today living on a dry kibble diet, it is important to ensure that we are area of the risks of dehydration.
Dog don’t naturally drink water at the rate that we do.
Instead, dogs in the wild receive a significant amount of hydration through the moisture content in the foods that they eat.
This isn’t to say that dry kibble doesn’t provide the nutrition that our dogs require, however, we need to ensure that those on a kibble diet are staying hydrated in another way.
One of the great, yet often overlooked, health benefits of pumpkin is that it can provide the additional moisture necessary to help provide their hydration needs.
This can be accomplished either by adding pumpkin puree to your dog’s food or making homemade dog treats with pumpkin!
Related: ‘Easy 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Banana Dog Treats‘
#9 – Weight Management
One of the major health concerns facing many dog owners today is obesity.
Experts warn that an increasing number of dogs are considered overweight or obese in today’s society.
Obesity has been connected with many serious health-related problems including heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis, and respiratory disease.
For this reason, veterinarians around the globe are encouraging owners to take the steps necessary to manage their dog’s weight.
This includes both encouraging a higher level of physical activity as well as making changes to meet their nutritional needs.
Most dogs enjoy the taste of pumpkin, but it is also low-calorie and low-fat. Being high in fibre and moisture, it will also help your dog to feel fuller longer.
Adding a little pumpkin to your dog’s food will add that special ‘treat’ while also helping him/her to lose excess weight.
For those dogs that are not overweight, pumpkin is a great option to help maintain a healthy weight.
How to Add Pumpkin to Your Dog’s Diet
There are many ways that you can look at adding pumpkin to your dog’s diet.
As mentioned above, you can simply add the canned puree to their current food, such as mixing it into a dog’s dry kibble.
If you do choose to go this route, be careful to select a puree that is free from added sugars and spices as these may upset their stomach.
There are, however, other options available!
You can purchase commercially made pumpkin-based treats such as the limited ingredient Pumpkin Pie treats from Northern Biscuit Bakery.
This is a Canadian company that we swear by in our household.
If you are unable to find a pumpkin-based treat that fits your dog’s nutritional needs or food-related restrictions (or if you enjoy baking) you can make your own treats at home.
Baking for your dogs is a great way to control what they are eating while also having fun!
Did you know that there were so many health benefits of pumpkin for dogs to consider?
Do you include pumpkin in your dog’s diet?
If you have any preferred products or recipes, we’d love to know! Feel free to share them with our pet-loving community in the comments!
I had no idea you could give pumpkins to dogs, much less that there are any health benefits associated with them – thank you, Britt, I have lots of friends with dogs so I’ll be passing on these tips to them – perfect timing with Hallowe’en approaching!
Our pups LOVE pumpkin puree with their food.
You have to love a treat that gets your pup excited AND carries health benefits – right?
What an autumn post! I am making some pumpkin cat treats this month. They do have so many benefits!
I’m definitely planning on a big bake session this weekend for the cats and dogs! They are going to be rolling in fun and festive autumn treats soon lol
My dogs love their pumpkin peanut butter treats. I’ve thought about adding bananas also.
I love changing things up by adding different flavours like that. It keeps everything interesting for the pups!
Great post! I always keep a few cans of 100% pure pumpkin around for the animals. Out of my two dogs, one will eat it if I mix it with other food or use it in a treat recipe. My other boy doesn’t like it, but he’s super picky and doesn’t like a lot of things lol.
I’m lucky, not only do both of ours eat it, they LOVE it and will ask for it (they know where we keep it on the shelf in the pantry lol). It makes it much easier to convince them to dig in when they aren’t feeling well lol
Oh I just love this! When we had our dog, I used to take him to a local dog bakery. They had this pumpkin treat for dogs, and he absolutely loved it. On the back of the treat it mentioned all the great health benefits pumpkin has. I was so happy that he loved it. Happy doggy, and a healthy snack made us both happy. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Exactly – it’s a win/win!
Wow I had no idea how good pumpkin was for dogs! This was really interesting.
It has SO many great benefits!
Great info! I had no idea. I think I’ll get the canned puree pumpkin for my pups!
Ours LOVE it!
I didn’t realize there were so many benefits! We’ve used pureed pumpkin for our cat’s digestion as it was recommended by the vet. We mixed it into the dried food for him. The idea of pumpkin being effective on worms and parasites is really interesting!
It’s amazing how beneficial something as simple as pumpkin can be, isn’t it?
Britt, without reading your article I may never know such amazing facts. Insightful information.
I never know pumpkin will do great favour for dogs I will suggest my friends too.
Thanks for sharing such a wonderful post ❤️❤️
Thank you for reading!
I knew pumpkin was healthy for us humans but I didn’t know it was good for dogs as well. That’s really good to know. I’m glad I found this article!
I’m glad that you enjoyed it!
Years ago my dog got sick and vet said to use pumpkins and it worked! I was shocked but happy to have a healthy puppers! Glad others are doing it also!
When I was first told to add pumpkin to my girl’s food when she wasn’t feeling well, I was surprised too. However, after a little research, I could see why it was such a great idea! Now, pumpkin is a regular part of their diet.
I knew about a fair few of these things for humans but had no idea it had the same benefits for our pups too! This is really inetresting to know. Hugo loves sweet potato and squash so I’m sure he’d like pumpkin too, might have to slip him a little bite of a few of my seasonal recipes this year x
Sophie
Our two recognize the container where we keep the pumpkin puree now! As soon as we pull it out, they are right there and excited lol
Wow! I would have never thought about feeding pumpkin to dogs. Thanks for another interesting and informative post.
I love that it’s so readily available and has so many benefits! It’s a win/win!
Thank you for sharing! Pumpkin is such a superfood! I’ve really been meaning to develop a treat recipe containing pumpkin – your post inspired me to get to work on it.
It’s a big hit in our house. I’m definitely a fan of anything the dogs enjoy that also carries health benefits like this!
My pups love pumpkins. My younger once stole it from kitchen and it was the only time he ever even attempted theft. Now I know that there are even more benefits of pumpkins than our vet told us. she recommended it for digestion highly as my elder has diverticulum
Digestion related concerns are by far the most common reason that I’ve heard of vets recommending pumpkin. The rest is just the icing on the cake!
I had no idea that pumpkin was so good for dogs! Is it a good thing for cats too? I’m curious about that, and if my cat would eat it.
Yes, the benefits carry over to cats too! We were recently talking about trying to make a pumpkin treat for the cats here.
Wow, I had no idea pumpkin was so healthy for dogs! I wonder if it’s this healthy for humans and what other foods are considered superfoods for dogs.
That’s a good question, I didn’t do any research into the impact of pumpkin on humans. That being said, I imagine at least some of the benefits would carry over as they are based on the nutritional content of the pumpkin.
Thanks for this. Pumpkins sound very good. I think ive tried Pumpkin soup before but i didnt know dogs will like anything pumpkins. So i am surprised by this.
Not all dogs do, but like us, they all have their own tastes. However, it’s a pretty popular flavour in dog treats! Gotta love when something tastes good AND has health benefits, right?
I didn’t have any idea how much it could help dogs, thanks for sharing this.
It has SO many great benefits!
Omg no way!? Just found out about this today! We grown pumpkin in our backyard and we take care of 4 dogs but never really got to try and feed them this. I will definitely do that
Ours LOVE it! The fact that they enjoy it AND it’s that healthy is a total win/win in my book!
This is fantastic! I make my own dog food and never thought about adding pumpkin to their food! I’m sure all three will love it! Thank you for the great tips and advice!
Ours go so crazy over the pumpkin puree. We keep it in a container and they know that container and the sound it makes coming out of the fridge lol
I didn’t know that pumpkin is good for dogs to eat! Pretty cool especially since it is in season now. Love that it helps the dog’s health overall and makes them look better too! You can’t go wrong with decreasing shedding around the house. it’s great that it is as simple as mixing some pumpkin puree into the food. Really easy to manage! Thanks for sharing!
Nancy ✨
Exactly – Easy to manage, they love it AND a ton of health benefits. What’s not to love?
How interesting! I had no idea that dogs could eat pumpkins, let alone that it would be good for them! There seem to be a lot of human foods that are toxic to pets, but I’m glad to know that they can enjoy pumpkins just like we can.
Yes, there are definitely a lot of toxic foods or foods that can have a negative impact on their health long-term. However, there are a few options (like pumpkin) that are REALLY good to incorporate! It’s great because we can spoil them a little without the guilt lol
So all these years, I should have been sharing my pumpkin soup with our old dog! Wonder if it is good for cats too?
Yes, many of the same benefits carry over to cats as well!
Ooh I didn’t know any of this! Good to know, with Autumn coming up! I might consider trying to make something pumpkin related for my dog!
Ours go CRAZY over the one pumpkin treat that I make them. I think I’m going to have to blog that recipe in the near future!