Saturday, October 24, 2015

Sweet Potatoes Beat Pumpkin in Fiber-Something to Ponder When Choosing Fiber for Sick Pets

Something to think about: we are told to give pets pumpkin for gastro issues due to the high fiber content. But butternut squash has more fiber and more sugar and carbs and therefore calories, than pumpkin-which may benefit those pets who are not eating enough. 

And yet, sweet potatoes-which I push as a great addition to the diet as a source of potassium-has more fiber, potassium, sugar, carbs and calories than either pumpkin or squash. So, perhaps instead of pumpkin, we should give our pets sweet potatoes-cooked fresh or from jars of baby food (and I use Gerber and recently found that Beechnut was too watered down vs Gerber.) AND canned "pumpkin" is often made up of butternut squash and some pumpkin, something I had not known before. That came up recently in an article which discussed that this year's lack of pumpkin harvest meant that next year there will be less canned pumpkin on the shelves. Except only Libby supposedly is actually 100% pumpkin as they grow their own.


So, skip pumpkin and try sweet potatoes for fiber and potassium and for calories if your pet needs it.



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