Welcome to Pumpkin Season

Its that’s time of year. Time to pull out the umbrellas, rain boots, and the Pumpkin Spice Lattes. But did you know that pumpkin is a great super food supplement for your dog all year long?

Every year, we all look forward to catching that hayride to the pumpkin patch to find the perfect pumpkin to decorate our doorstep or carve into an amazing jack-o-lantern. But there is more greatness to this gourd then we know. Let’s start with vitamins and minerals. Pumpkins are packed with vitamin A, B2, C and E. As well as a healthy punch of iron, copper, manganese, fibre, and potassium. It also contains antioxidants like alpha-carotene, and beta-carotene.

That’s a pretty powerful Halloween decoration. So, if we break this down, vitamin A is an immune system booster. This is going to help your dogs body fight off infections and keep them feeling strong. Combined with the next highest vitamin C, which has been shown to help increase white blood cells, which not only is another immunity booster, but it also helps the body heal wounds faster. Basically, you are turning your dog into a super-pup. Pumpkin is a great source of fibre. This can be helpful if your dog has an upset stomach, as it’s a great tool for soaking up excess liquid in the tummy, and as digestion happens lowers the pH in the intestines. Read: no vomit or diarrhea on the carpets.

As we settle into fall, also known as monsoon season in Vancouver, sometimes the walks and the hikes become a little bit shorter. You may notice Fido gain a pound or two over the colder and rainy days. That’s ok, a little winter weight never hurt anyone. But a great way to help prevent, or even stop it from getting out of hand is to supplement with a bit a pumpkin. Because its so nutrient and fibre dense it’s a great way to help your dog feel full, without potentially overeating at dinner.

There are a lot of supplements for pets on the market. This is by far one of the easiest and nutrition dense ones to give your pup. During the year, while doing your grocery shopping just pick up a couple of cans of pumpkin puree. However, you want to make sure that you *DO NOT* grab pumpkin pie filling. You are just looking for pure pumpkin here, the sugary filler could really upset your dog’s stomach. It is recommended that dogs should get 1-4 tablespoons a day. This is entirely based on size. Use discretion here, if you have a 2lb Chihuahua, you probably want to do ½ a tablespoon.

Who knew this amazing fall staple was such a great addition to your dog’s diet? We have added some great recipes at the bottom of this blog to help incorporate some fun pumpkin treats into your treat jar. Happy Fall Y’all!

FROZEN PUMPKIN TREATS

Ingredients
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup pumpkin puree

Directions
* Mix pumpkin and yogurt together in a bowl.
* Portion evenly into ice trays (Silicone trays work best)
* Freeze overnight (preferably for 24 hours)
* Pop out of tray and store in freezer bags

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Pumpkin Dog Cookies
From "Love From The Oven"

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 large eggs
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
2 tbsp natural peanut butter (avoid any peanut butter that contains sweetener Xylitol)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions
*Preheat the oven to 350 F.
*In a large bowl, mix together eggs, cinnamon, pumpkin, flour, salt and peanut butter. This mixture will become stiff, dry and crumbly really quickly when first mixing.
*Add a little bit of water to help moisten the ingredients, then you will be able to work and knead the dough. Only add a tablespoon or so as you go. You want the dough to end up being a dry and thick consistency.
*Flour your counter-top and roll the dough out to be about a ½ inch thick. Use your cookie cutters to cut out individual treats and place on a greased baking sheet. You don’t need to separate them a ton, they don’t rise much.
*You will have left over dough after cutting out the first batch of treats. Quickly knead and roll out the dough left over dough to make even more!
*Bake for about 35 minutes or until hard. Serve to your fur-baby! They will be living their best doggy life!