Welcome to another edition of Furbaby Friday!
Last Wednesday night Chris and I were all settled into bed, on the verge of falling asleep when Levi got sick. And when I say he got sick, I mean that he projectile vomited all over our room. With no warning whatsoever. He had been acting completely normal and playful and all of a sudden… Vomit everywhere.
That woke us up in a hurry. While we surveyed the damage in our bedroom, Levi went into the living room and kitchen and got sick again. It was a huge mess. We set to work doing laundry and cleaning carpets at 10pm, which is past our bedtime. We are those people that are in bed between 9 and 9:30. After our house was somewhat in order, Chris went to bed and I stayed up to keep an eye on our little man. I hate whenever one of the dogs gets sick, it breaks my heart.
I always keep a can of 100% pure pumpkin on hand for stomach emergencies like that one. I heard several years ago that pumpkin naturally soothes dogs’ stomachs. When Lyssa was a puppy, I took her to the dog play area at our old apartment every day and a young woman there told me the “secret” about pumpkin. I confirmed with our vet that it is safe for them to eat and ever since then I always keep some on hand in case one of the dogs gets sick. So after things calmed down Wednesday night, I tried to get Levi to eat a little pumpkin. He wasn’t having it but Thursday morning, I put some in his breakfast (about 1 tsp) and he scarfed it down. I continued to put a little bit of pumpkin in his dog food over the next few days to keep his stomach settled. But once he was feeling better, I was stumped on what to do with the can of pumpkin that was left. I hated to waste it.
Pinterest to the rescue. I searched leftover pumpkin and something immediately caught my eye: homemade dog treats! What a perfect way to use up leftover canned pumpkin. We don’t give the dogs many treats because Lyssa is on a strict, prescription diet due to a pancreas deficiency. (If you’re thinking that must be expensive, let me assure you it is! But we will do anything to keep our girl healthy.) So I figured they would really enjoy some homemade, all-natural dog treats.
I followed THIS recipe, except I omitted the baking powder and cinnamon.
You only need four ingredients to make these dog treats (or six if you follow the original recipe) and they are ingredients that are always in our pantry, so that was a bonus. Warning: the dough was a little sticky, but I guess that’s to be expected when one of the ingredients is peanut butter. If you happen to have a dog bone cookie cutter, that would make these treats extra cute but all I could find was a star shape. Hey, it works.
These treats are approved by both Lyssa and Levi! As you can see in the picture above, I had their full attention! You can store the treats in the fridge or freezer. I ended up freezing ours because it’s super hot here in Texas and our dogs love ice cubes, so I knew they would enjoy a cold treat.
We never did figure out what upset Levi’s stomach or what he could have gotten into, but our little guy is feeling good and totally back to normal. I guess one positive side effect of Wednesday night’s event is that now the dogs have some tasty homemade dog treats. If you have any leftover pumpkin (or a full can of pumpkin), you should definitely give these a try!
*Note: Make sure you buy 100% pure pumpkin puree. Not pumpkin pie filling*
[…] the $1 bone shaped cookie cutter I got. Remember my pumpkin dog treat post? (You can check it out HERE). I have been on the lookout for one since then, so I couldn’t pass it […]