It’s Halloween season. That usually means that everyone and their mother bought a pumpkin that they’ll turn into a jack-o-lantern. But it also means you’ll have a ton of potentially harmful food for your dog lying around.
Since here at petdietguide.com, we care more about your dog’s health than how well you carved your pumpkin; we’ll help you keep your pup alive through yet another crazy Halloween night.
So, what happens if your dog accidentally starts munching on your carved-out piece of art?
In this article, we aim to answer the question: can dogs eat raw pumpkins?
Since it’s Halloween after all, do forgive us for any ‘scary’ puns that might come up.
Can Dogs Eat Raw Pumpkin?
Yes, dogs, indeed, can eat raw pumpkins. Pumpkin can be more beneficial to your dog’s health than most of the healthy ‘human’ foods you can think of.
But before you start asking, “can I give my dog pumpkin every day?”.
We ought to go over some general things concerning pumpkins, and then if pumpkins and dogs go well together.
Pumpkin Facts
Pumpkin has loads of benefits. In fact, it’s weird that not that many people incorporate it into their diet.
To drive this point further, we’ll look at the nutritional chart of a pumpkin and see what makes it so special:
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 100g |
| Calories | 26 |
| Calories from Fat | 0 |
| Total Fat | 0.1g 0% |
| Saturated Fat | 0.1g 0% |
| Trans Fat | 0g |
| Cholesterol | 0mg 0% |
| Sodium | 1mg 0% |
| Potassium | 340mg 10% |
| Total Carbohydrate | 6.5g 2% |
| Dietary Fiber | 0.5g 2% |
| Sugars | 1.4g |
| Protein | 1g 2% |
| Vitamin A | 148% |
| Vitamin C | 15% |
| Calcium | 2% |
| Iron | 4% |
| Thiamin | 3% |
| Riboflavin | 6% |
| Vitamin B6 | 3% |
| Niacin | 3% |
| Magnesium | 3% |
| Phosphorus | 4% |
| Zinc | 2% |
| Copper | 6% |
The star of the show has to be vitamin A.
Actually, it’s so good that we’ll give you a quick bullet point rundown:
- Plays a major role in the immune system functioning properly
- Is responsible for cellular communication
- Keeps your eyes healthy
With an astonishing 150% of a regular daily intake, 100 grams of pumpkin can ensure your two marbles won’t be hiding behind a pair of glasses anytime soon.
Next, we have Potassium.
Potassium and sodium are kinds of the yin and yang of your body.
In a sense, they regulate each other and having too much, or too little, of either one, can cause issues.
Potassium is vital for the heart and muscles, among other things.
Finally, we have vitamin C.
What is there to say that you don’t already know.
The benefits of vitamin C are so widely known by now; we’ll try and be original.
Instead of benefits, we’ll talk about the consequences of not having enough vitamin C. I know, we’re such bummers.
There’s even a name for it – Scurvy.
If your body doesn’t have enough vitamin C, you can become anemic, chronically exhausted, have pain in your arms and legs (especially legs), and loads of other horrid things.
If that didn’t scare you into having enough vitamin C daily, I don’t know what will.
But enough of how great pumpkins are, let’s see what they do for our little tail-waggers.
Pumpkin Benefits For Dogs
1. Mirror To The Soul
We said there’s a good chunk of vitamin A in pumpkins. Vitamin A is great for eyesight. This also applies to our dogs. If they don’t consume enough vitamin A, their eyes might start to deteriorate, and they might start suffering from night blindness.
If you’re wondering why exactly night blindness?
It’s because dogs see better at night than we do. They can’t see as many colors as we can, but due to a larger pupil and more rods, your canine buddy could navigate some pretty dark corners.
So if you ever have to go out in the middle of the night and it’s dark as hell, take your buddy with you; he’ll be thrilled to guide you.
2. Plugged In
If your dog is feeling constipated, a pumpkin might be able to help with that. There’s a good amount of fiber and water in pumpkins. A combination of those two is great to move the bowels and let your doggo do his thing.
In addition to that, pumpkin seeds have often been used to treat tapeworm. This pumpkin thing just keeps getting better and better.
Besides pumpkin seeds, your dogs can eat some other seeds as well. Or can he? We wrote about chia seeds and can dogs eat chia seeds, right here on petdietguide.com.
3. Natural Protection
We said that there’s a lot of vitamin C in pumpkins. Although we might need to measure our daily vitamin C intake, our dogs are not condemned to that.
You see, dogs produce their own vitamin C. I know, shocker. So you can stop squeezing lemons over your dog’s every meal; he’s covered.
And if for some reason you want your dog to have some lemon juice, we’ve got you covered there as well; read our article can dogs eat lemons and find out.
How To Feed Your Dog Pumpkin?
1. Raw
As the name of the article suggests, we’re discussing whether dogs can eat raw pumpkins. There really shouldn’t be any problems if they do.
Even in their raw form, pumpkin flesh and seeds are still filled with nutrients and shouldn’t cause any harm.
It’s low in calories. The digestive benefits it provides are excellent whether your dog is suffering from constipation or you just want to maintain your pup’s digestive health.
2. Cooked
If you want to put that extra effort into preparing your dog’s food, you can.
Depending on the type of diet your dog is used to, you might have to use some tricks to get him or her to eat it.
Boil it or mash it and then combine it with would be a good way of tricking your dog into ingesting some much-needed vegetable.
3. Canned
So we’ve presented pumpkin as some kind of miracle food that will make your dog’s eyes shoot lasers and his stomach digest dinosaur bones.
But you’re just not in the habit of buying pumpkins or cooking them for yourself, let alone your dog. Being the responsible dog-owner you are, you still want your pup to reap the benefits. Buy canned pumpkin instead.
Again, mix it with something your dog already likes, and it should be more than enough. Be careful though, make sure to check the label for any added sugar or salt. Both of these are a big no-no for your dog.
Diversifying your dog’s diet is a good way to keep him/her young for longer.
If you think this canned food sounds like a good idea, check out – can dogs eat black beans?
Things To Keep In Mind
Although there’s a pretty big list of benefits for pumpkin, feeding it to your dog every day is not necessary.
We said that it can help with constipation but it can also cause bloating and gas. So giving too much pumpkin can have the opposite effect.
Also, when introducing pumpkin to your dog, start with small portion sizes. Food allergies are getting more common with dogs nowadays, test food out before making it a part of their regular diet.
Conclusion
Alright, let’s finally carve out the gist of this thing. Eating raw pumpkins will not harm your dog. On the contrary, it can have some major benefits; aiding in constipation, potential tapeworm, and preserving eyesight, to name a few.
Besides raw pumpkin, you can cook it for your dog, or, if you’re feeling particularly lazy, canned pumpkin is a completely viable option. Again, if you’re buying anything canned for your dog, check the label, make sure there are no additives, no sugar, or salt.
Letting your dog ingest some of this stuff regularly can cause some major long-term consequences. Feeding your pup pumpkin every day is not necessary. Too much of a good thing often makes things worse.
Finally, when introducing pumpkin to your dog’s diet, start small. Monitor his/her reactions and then decide if it’s a good pick. Other than that, raw pumpkin, or pumpkin in most forms, gets a thumbs up from us.
Learn More: What Can Dogs Eat? A Comprehensive List Of Dog-safe Foods