Pumpkin

Pumpkin is a squash that adds fiber and beta-carotene to cat food with few calories. The Merck Veterinary Manual notes that cats cannot convert beta-carotene into vitamin A and require a preformed source of vitamin A in the diet, so pumpkin does not supply that vitamin for a cat. In dry food it is used in small amounts. For a cat with a digestive condition, ask your veterinarian.

Source: merckvetmanual.com

Pumpkin is added mainly as a fiber source. It contains soluble fiber and is low in calories, so it suits weight-control recipes and helps with stool quality. It also brings some vitamin C. Labels may list it as pumpkin, dried pumpkin or whole pumpkin, and it is usually somewhere in the middle of the ingredient list.

Pumpkin is often suggested for constipation, but Tufts veterinary nutritionists say it may not help and in some cases can cause problems. They calculate that a cat would need over 2.5 cups of pumpkin a day to match the fiber in a high-fiber therapeutic diet. Pumpkin also mixes soluble and insoluble fiber, which may not be the type a given cat needs. A veterinarian can choose the right fiber.

Source: sites.tufts.edu

Not exactly. Cat food uses dried or whole pumpkin cooked into the recipe in small amounts. Tufts veterinary nutritionists note that plain canned pumpkin has about 83 calories per cup, while canned pumpkin pie mix has added sugar and can reach 281 calories per cup. Some salted brands carry nearly 600 milligrams of sodium per cup.

Source: sites.tufts.edu

Pettings gives pumpkin 4 out of 5 and lists it as a fiber source. It appears on 25 of the 149 dry cat foods we list, also as Dried Pumpkin or Whole Pumpkin. Foods with it average 75 out of 100 on our Ingredients score, compared with 54 for the 124 foods without it, though that average describes the whole food. Each food's page shows how it scores overall.