Share Thanksgiving with your cat –

If you’re like me, you’ll want to celebrate Thanksgiving with ALL your family members, which of course includes our cats. Thanksgiving menus have many traditional dishes, pumpkin pie is a favorite – yum! (especially with vanilla ice cream). We like it and so do some cats. That’s good because pumpkin is healthy for cats, so you can have Thanksgiving with your cat – pumpkin!
Did you know that pumpkin contains several nutrients? If your cat has a reasonable, well-balanced diet, most cats won’t need additional supplements, but as part of a healthy diet, according to foundanimals.org pumpkin has

• Vitamin A makes for a good immune system and vision
• Vitamin E is an antioxidant and helps regulate enzyme activity
• Lutein keeps eyes, skin and fur healthy
• Vitamin C also helps with enzyme reactions and collagen synthesis
• Alpha carotene is another antioxidant that helps keep cells healthy
• Calcium keeps bones and teeth nice and strong
• Iron is important for oxidation, cellular respiration and hemoglobin production.
  

  photo by shari smith dunaif © 2018

Pumpkin can also be used medicinally for your cat: if you notice that your cat is constipated, do what some veterinarians suggest, feed them pumpkin. It’s effective due to the fiber and moisture contained in pumpkin. Pumpkin can even aid with hair balls because the fiber helps move the fur through the cat’s intestines. They just poop it out instead of throwing it up, which always seems really unpleasant for my cats when they do that heaving cough.

How to serve pumpkin to your cat

Get canned pumpkin with no additives: no spices, no added sugar, nothing. Don’t get pumpkin pie filling, get just plain, pure canned pumpkin. Add a teaspoon or two to their regular wet food dinners. I’d start with teaspoon, if they like it, next time try two teaspoons.

photo by shari smith dunaif © 2018

Don’t let them eat the stem or the rind. Don’t feed them the mushy stuff inside or any raw pumpkin, it’s too strong for them to digest. Probably like us. If you have an actual pumpkin, as long as it’s fresh, you can bake the pumpkin flesh until it’s soft, then let it cool before you give it to your cat.

So share Thanksgiving with your cat with pumpkin, just skip the ice cream. At least for your cat.
Happy Thanksgiving! https://youtu.be/v14uTR9FgY8