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It's Halloween time and there are plenty of pumpkins around. Good thing that pumpkin is great for your dogs! It's high in fiber, low in calories, and full of Beta Keratin.  It's also great for your dog's digestive system.

You can use canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling.) However, if you have a few real pumpkins and want to give them to your dogs, here are some cooking and preparation suggestions:

1. Raw pumpkin is okay, as long as it is fresh. Don't use your Halloween pumpkin that's been sitting out on your porch steps for weeks. Yuck! Just peel the pumpkin and cut the flesh into small cubes. You can then top your dog's food with some of the pumpkin cubes.

2. Pumpkin puree
Boil peeled, cubed pumpkin until tender.
or
cut pumpkins in half and scoop out the seeds. Place on cookie sheet and roast for 30 minutes or so, until golden brown on edges. Scoop out the flesh and discard the skin.



Place in food processor and add a little water and puree.

I put spoonfuls of pumpkin purees in muffin cups and froze. Then I popped the frozen lumps out of the tins and placed in ziploc bags to store until needed.




3. Pumpkin Pupsicles
Mix pumpkin puree with water until smooth. Poor into ice cube trays or molds and freeze.




4. Pumpkin Biscuits
I don't really enjoy cooking, but I got inspired to make dog biscuits with some of the pumpkin puree. One of the reasons I'm not much of a cook is because I'm horrible at following recipes and I hate to measure. So I put the puree in a large bowl and added some rolled oats, a little cinnamon, 2 eggs, and some flour. I kept mixing in flour until it felt like the right consistency to roll out. I rolled the dough and pressed out dog bone shapes with cookie cutters. I then baked them for about 15 minutes. They didn't look too bad! Best of all, my dogs were crazy about them! It made me ridiculously happy to make something from scratch that my dogs seemed to love!










Other ideas are
Mix pumpkin with peanut butter, banana, plain yogurt---or all!
Stuff into a Kong
Make pumpkin dog-safe ice cream
Bake into doggie muffins

Do you give your dogs pumpkin?
How do you prepare pumpkin treats for your pet?

As a #ChewyInfluencer, Kelly and Ike get the opportunity to sample a treat or toy each month, and we report back to you what we think. This month, Miss Sydney sent us an awesome bag of Nutro Crunchy Treats.
















I'd been looking for just the right cookie to treat my dogs, without giving them too many calories. Because Kelly is strong-willed and refused to come in from the back yard when I called, I got into the habit of giving her a small treat every time she came inside. This has been going on for more than a decade, and of course Ike expects a treat too. When I open the back door, they run inside, sit in front of the treat jar, and look up at me patiently.

I need a small cookie that is big enough for Ike, but not so much that I'm going to make either dog fat. I also prefer crunchy treats for this job, since I like to keep them in a big jar on the counter, and soft treats would dry out.

Nutro Crunchy treats turn out to be just the ticket! They are healthy, no wheat, (which is great for Ike's allergies), 100% natural, and made with fruits and vegetables. We got mixed berry flavor. My dogs love the taste, and they are only 6 calories per treat. Although it may seem silly to treat them just for walking in the door, this way I don't feel guilty for piling on extra unhealthy calories.

*Full Disclosure: We were provided one 10 oz bag of Nutro crunchy treats in exchange for my honest review. Opinions expressed here are 100% my own.

We're excited to join the first Chewy.com Blog Hop, hosted by Golden Woofs and Oz the Terrier.  If you're interested in pet product reviews, check out the links here: