Pumpkin

Plain pumpkin is one of the few human foods that earns a place in a dog's bowl on clinical grounds. It is high in soluble fibre, which absorbs water when stool is loose and adds bulk and moisture when stool is hard, so it gets recommended routinely for mild diarrhoea and for constipation. Plain cooked pumpkin and plain canned pumpkin puree both work. Dose it like a supplement, not a side dish: 1 teaspoon per 5 kg (about 11 lb) of body weight, up to 1 to 4 tablespoons per day when you are using it as a fibre source. Start at the low end. A large scoop into a small dog is the usual way people make the diarrhoea worse rather than better. The label is the whole game in an American grocery store, because two cans sit next to each other and look almost identical. One says 100% pure pumpkin and contains pumpkin. The other says pumpkin pie filling or pumpkin pie mix and contains sugar plus a pie spice blend that includes nutmeg, which is not safe for dogs. Some sweetened products also carry xylitol, which US labels may print as birch sugar, and xylitol causes a rapid, dangerous drop in blood glucose in dogs. Read the ingredient list before the can goes anywhere near a dog bowl. Raw pumpkin stems and leaves are also off the menu, which matters in October when carved pumpkins and vines are around the house. Loose stool or extra gas from too much plain pumpkin resolves when you cut the amount back. But if your dog ate pumpkin pie filling, or anything whose label lists xylitol or birch sugar, call your veterinarian or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435 immediately, even if the dog looks completely normal. Bring the label with you. Do not induce vomiting at home; whether to decontaminate is a veterinary decision. And if diarrhoea lasts more than a couple of days, has blood in it, or comes with lethargy, that is a case for an exam, not for more pumpkin.