The great Pumpkin

The great pumpkin; other than carving and making pumpkin loaf, what are they good for?  Lots.  My cupboard is usually full of canned organic pumpkin.  This is the time of year to stock up; it can be harder to find at other times.  Each time I'm at the grocers lately I grab at least three cans.  I not only use it for the dogs; I also love baking and cooking with it for us as well.

But for the dogs; if you've ever had a dog with diarrhea and couldn't seem to get it turned around, then you need to know about pumpkin. I don't know how many people I've shared this with but once you try it; you'll be hooked. Pumpkin is a very good binder when you need binding for your pooch. But; if you need loosening it works well for that too. With it's water absorption qualities it can quickly firm up loose stool and help to loosen up a dog that is having problems with constipation.


Pumpkin nutritional facts

more pumpkin info

Who knew? good for kidney stones and parasites

From everything that I have researched; dogs can eat seeds as well as the meat of a pumpkin. I know that when we carve our pumpkins the dogs are in there looking for tidbits to grab. If you are feeding raw, grate the pumpkin very well and use a small amount. For the pumpkin in a can (not pie filling) use a couple of teaspoons for a med-large dog. Pumpkin can cure diarrhea within hours; how great is that?


And just for the love of it, I made these cookies for the dogs and they are pretty good. They taste sort of like Cheese crackers.  Yes; I always taste my baking before offering them to the dogs.  Hey; I want to know if they are actually good or not.  Even Luke ate them.

1/2 Cup butter
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 cup grated sharp cheddar

I used my KitchenAid mixer for 3 solid minutes. Hand knead for 1 min to make sure all the cheese is blended in nicely. Roll out to 1/4" thickness using flour on your surface and top of dough. The dough is really nice to roll.

Bake large cookies 2 1/2" size for 20 min. Leave in for 25 min again at 275 to dry.
-small size 1 1/2" for 15 min. Leave in for 15 min again at 275 to dry.