Pumpkin

Pumpkin appears on the labels of 45 of the 244 recipes we have read and scored (18 percent of the database), in label forms including Pumpkin, Dried Pumpkin, whole pumpkin, dehydrated pumpkin, pumpkin.

What it is

Pumpkin flesh, dried or whole: soluble fibre that absorbs water in the gut.

Why makers use it

Makers add it for stool steadiness; it firms loose stools and softens hard ones by holding water either way.

What to watch for

Plain pumpkin is the same food owners spoon from a can for digestive upsets; the amounts on a kibble panel are smaller than a serving spoon's.

Highest scoring recipes that carry it

The full database, filterable by brand, format, life stage and grains, is the reviews index; the food finder answers it by the proteins a dog must avoid.

Often on the same panels

Vitamin Supplements (the Vitamin Pack), Mixed Tocopherols, Chelated and Proteinate Minerals, Salt. The full dictionary is the ingredient index.