Anyone that knows me knows that my dogs eat about as well as a dog can eat. Their vegetation is organic and their meat is clean (free of antibiotics, hormones, etc.). I feed them what is commonly known as the BARF diet, or bones and raw food. In a nutshell, my dogs are rarely sick, don't have fleas and they have very balanced energy.

When we adopted Nakita, she was on commercial dog food and her immune system wasn't nearly as robust as our other two dogs'. She had spastic energy, itchy skin, fleas, and worms in her poop. It took me a while, but we finally got her mellowed out, her coat shiny and her fleas and worms gone. One of the magic ingredients we incorporated into her diet to deal with the worms was ground up raw pumpkin seeds. I actually picked up this trick from my vet, Dr. Sara, who told me that raw pumpkin seeds would help Nakita with her parasite issues. I took some raw, organic pumpkin seeds, ground them up in a coffee grinder, and sprinkled about a half teaspoon on Nakita's food every day. (Nakita is an 80 lb. dog.) Worked like a charm.

I did some investigating to find that pumpkin seeds are beneficial, to dogs and humans, in many different ways. They are a natural source of unsaturated fatty acids, carbohydrates, amino acids and vitamins C, D, E, K and most of the Bs. They also contain calcium, phosphorous and potassium. I was so impressed with the health benefits that I added raw pumpkin seeds to my trail mix. Hey, if it's good enough for the dogs, it's good enough for me.

–Chad Culp, Certified Dog Trainer and Canine Behavior Consultant

© Thriving Canine 2013

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