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Ingredient file // Plant protein

Pumpkin Seed Flour

Useful seed protein, no worm cure

Pumpkin seed flour is ground seed material made from whole seeds or from the cake left after oil pressing. It supplies plant protein and some fat to dog food. Its makeup depends heavily on which material was milled.

What it is
Ground pumpkin seeds or milled seed cake left after oil pressing, with different protein and fat levels.
Made from
Whole pumpkin seeds or pressed seed cake
Main job
Plant protein and fat
Typical amount
Not published
Watch for
Deworming claims and stale, oily flour
Not the same as
Pumpkin flesh

Straight answer

Is Pumpkin Seed Flour safe for dogs?

Read it as seed protein, then move on

Find pumpkin seed flour on the ingredient list and check the main protein sources around it. A low listing means it weighs less than those above it, but gives no exact amount. Count it as a useful seed ingredient. Ignore promises about deworming, antioxidants or loose stools.

Why it is in the food
Plant protein and fat

Our read // In our catalog

In 1 of every 178 foods we track

Share of foods that list it

<1%

18 of the 3,204 foods with an ingredient list on file, from 1 brand. All dry dog food.

Each square is 1% of the catalog

Where it sits on the label

Median position 6.5. In the top five of 6 foods, so it is usually a supporting ingredient.

Top five List position, heaviest first

Price per lb

Foods with it $3.86
All foods $3.25

Median of the cheapest bag price across 14 priced foods, 19% above the catalog. The price is the food's, not the ingredient's.

Who leans on it

100%

of the foods that list it are from Nature's Logic. 1 brand use it in total.

What it is

How it is made

Seed processors can dry and grind pumpkin seeds into flour. Oil producers can instead mill the cake left after pressing. Both routes use the seeds, but removing oil changes what the finished flour contributes.2,3,5,10

  1. 01 // Source Pumpkin seeds Seeds are separated from the fruit; retained hulls add fiber to the material being milled.
  2. 02 // Process Dried and cleaned In one flour study, processors cleaned and dried the seeds before crushing them.
  3. 03 // Process Oil pressed, sometimes For the pressed route, a screw press removes oil and leaves a cake richer in protein by weight.
  4. 04 // Process Ground fine Whole dried seeds or the remaining press cake are milled into flour.
  5. 05 // Output Seed flour The dry ingredient reaches the food plant with protein and an oil content shaped by its processing route.

What is in it

Composition, dry matter

38-59

% protein

The span between whole seeds and pressed cake in one comparison. Oil removal raises protein's share of the remaining material.

Crude protein 37.7-58.6%2
Crude fat 7.6-42.7%2
Ash 3.5-5.4%2
Crude fiber 28.1 g/kg1

The protein, fat and ash spans compare whole seeds with pressed cake, rather than batches of identical flour. The fiber figure describes one pressed cake. Oil removal and retained hulls change the result.1,2,3

Why it is in the bag

What the manufacturer gets

  1. 01

    Adds plant protein

    Pressing removes much of the oil, raising protein's share of the cake. Seed flour contributes to the crude protein figure, though a bag does not separate plant protein from animal protein.2,6

  2. 02

    Uses the oil cake

    Milling gives oil producers an outlet for the cake left after pressing. An industry ingredient report classifies pumpkin seed flour as upcycled; that does not prove it saves a dog food maker money.2,8,10

  3. 03

    Changes food flavor

    Dogs preferred pumpkin press cake offered alone beside other seed cakes. Mixed with potato flakes the lead vanished, and at one mixture linseed cake was eaten more. Neither result predicts kibble preference.1

  4. 04

    Contributes some fat

    Whole seed flour carries substantially more oil than flour from pressed cake. That difference matters to recipe formulation, but the ingredient name alone does not reveal which material was used.2,6

How much An 8-dog crossover study fed pumpkin press cake at 20% of a test diet; commercial inclusion amounts were not reported.1

Our read // The claims

What the evidence supports

Strong: controlled studies in dogs agree. Some: small or mixed dog data. Thin: mechanism or lab work only. None: nothing, or the evidence points the other way.

  1. Brands say

    Pumpkin seed flour supplies usable protein

    Outruns the evidence

    Evidence

    1. Strong
    2. Some
    3. Thin
    4. None

    In one 8-dog crossover trial, a diet with 20% pumpkin press cake had 85.11% apparent protein digestibility. A single trial of 8 dogs does not show usable protein for seed flour generally, and other diet ingredients also supplied protein.1

  2. Brands say

    Dogs love the taste of pumpkin seed flour

    Outruns the evidence

    Evidence

    1. Strong
    2. Some
    3. Thin
    4. None

    In one 8-dog bowl test, dogs ate more pumpkin press cake than other cakes offered alone. Mixed with potato flakes the lead mostly vanished; at one mixture linseed cake was eaten more, 18.12 g versus 15.10 g. One small trial with a mixed result does not show dogs love the taste.1

  3. Owners say

    Pumpkin seed flour deworms dogs

    Outruns the evidence

    Evidence

    1. Strong
    2. Some
    3. Thin
    4. None

    A 1998 dissertation assigned 7 tapeworm-infected dogs to a pumpkin seed mixture, but 3 would not take it and only 4 finished. The abstract reports shed segment counts with no statistical comparison, and it tested a seed mixture, not pressed flour in kibble.4,7

  4. Brands say

    Its antioxidants protect a dog's health

    Outruns the evidence

    Evidence

    1. Strong
    2. Some
    3. Thin
    4. None

    A laboratory study measured antioxidant activity of pumpkin seed flour with an in-vitro ABTS assay. It fed no dogs and measured no health outcome, so the test-tube result gives no evidence that the flour protects a dog's health.5

  5. Owners say

    Pumpkin seed flour firms loose stools

    Outruns the evidence

    Evidence

    1. Strong
    2. Some
    3. Thin
    4. None

    In an 8-dog crossover, a diet with 20% press cake produced stool consistency similar to the other tested diets. The study did not treat diarrhea. Seed flour also differs from the pumpkin flesh used in stool claims.1,3

Straight answers

What owners ask

  1. Q01

    Is it just filler?

    No

    Whole seeds supply protein and fat; pressed cake supplies more protein by weight and retains some fat. One dog study found a diet containing the cake digestible. Its contribution to your bag still depends on the amount used.1,2

  2. Q02

    Is this the same as pumpkin?

    No

    Pumpkin flesh and pumpkin seeds are separate ingredients with different compositions. This flour comes from seeds or seed cake. Do not transfer claims about pumpkin flesh and stool to seed flour.2,3

  3. Q03

    Will it replace my dog's dewormer?

    No

    The small seed mixture study did not test flour in kibble, and some dogs refused the mixture. Suspected worms call for a stool test and an appropriate deworming medicine.4,7

  4. Q04

    Can the name tell me the fat content?

    No

    In one comparison, whole seeds contained 42.74% fat on a dry basis, versus 7.62% for pressed cake. The ingredient line does not tell you which route the supplier used.2,6

Who uses it

Brands, best sellers and the company it keeps

Top brands, by foods that list it

  1. Nature's Logic 18 / 32

Foods that list it / all the brand's recipes we track.

Usually listed with, share of the foods that list it

  1. Mixed Tocopherols 100%
  2. Yeast Culture 100%
  3. Montmorillonite Clay 89%
  4. Millet 78%
  5. Spray Dried Porcine Plasma 78%
  6. Chicken Fat 56%
  7. Alfalfa Nutrient Concentrate 44%
  8. Pork Fat 39%
  9. Dehydrated Kale 39%
  10. Dried Kelp 39%
  11. Spray Dried Chicken Liver 33%
  12. Beef Meal 28%

On the shelf

Foods that list Pumpkin Seed Flour

18 foods in our catalog list it, highest on the label first.

Nature’s Logic Canine Turkey Meal Feast Dry Dog FoodNature's LogicNature’s Logic Canine Turkey Meal Feast Dry Dog FoodDry // No. 5 on the labelNature’s Logic Canine Sardine Meal Feast Dry Dog FoodNature's LogicNature’s Logic Canine Sardine Meal Feast Dry Dog FoodDry // No. 5 on the labelNature’s Logic Distinction Canine Pork Recipe Dry Dog FoodNature's LogicNature’s Logic Distinction Canine Pork Recipe Dry Dog FoodDry // No. 7 on the labelNature’s Logic Distinction Canine Chicken Recipe Dry Dog FoodNature's LogicNature’s Logic Distinction Canine Chicken Recipe Dry Dog FoodDry // No. 7 on the label
Show 14 more
Nature’s Logic Canine Pork Meal Feast Dry Dog FoodNature's LogicNature’s Logic Canine Pork Meal Feast Dry Dog FoodDry // No. 5 on the labelNature’s Logic Canine Lamb Meal Feast Dry Dog FoodNature's LogicNature’s Logic Canine Lamb Meal Feast Dry Dog FoodDry // No. 5 on the labelNature’s Logic Canine Chicken Meal Feast Dry Dog FoodNature's LogicNature’s Logic Canine Chicken Meal Feast Dry Dog FoodDry // No. 5 on the labelNature’s Logic Canine Beef Meal Feast Dry Dog FoodNature's LogicNature’s Logic Canine Beef Meal Feast Dry Dog FoodDry // No. 5 on the labelNature’s Logic Original Pure Naturals Sardine Recipe Dry Dog FoodNature's LogicNature’s Logic Original Pure Naturals Sardine Recipe Dry Dog FoodDry // No. 6 on the labelNature’s Logic Pure Naturals Grain-Free Chicken Recipe Dry Dog FoodNature's LogicNature’s Logic Pure Naturals Grain-Free Chicken Recipe Dry Dog FoodDry // No. 6 on the labelNature’s Logic Canine Rabbit Meal Feast Dry Dog FoodNature's LogicNature’s Logic Canine Rabbit Meal Feast Dry Dog FoodDry // No. 6 on the labelNature’s Logic Original Pure Naturals Beef Recipe Dry Dog FoodNature's LogicNature’s Logic Original Pure Naturals Beef Recipe Dry Dog FoodDry // No. 7 on the labelNature’s Logic Original Pure Naturals Chicken Recipe Dry Dog FoodNature's LogicNature’s Logic Original Pure Naturals Chicken Recipe Dry Dog FoodDry // No. 7 on the labelNature’s Logic Grain-Free Canine Chicken Meal Feast Dry Dog FoodNature's LogicNature’s Logic Grain-Free Canine Chicken Meal Feast Dry Dog FoodDry // No. 7 on the labelNature’s Logic Canine Duck & Salmon Meal Feast Dry Dog FoodNature's LogicNature’s Logic Canine Duck & Salmon Meal Feast Dry Dog FoodDry // No. 7 on the labelNature’s Logic Distinction Canine Beef Recipe Dry Dog FoodNature's LogicNature’s Logic Distinction Canine Beef Recipe Dry Dog FoodDry // No. 7 on the labelNature’s Logic Original Canine Grain Free Dry Kibble: Beef Dry Dog FoodNature's LogicNature’s Logic Original Canine Grain Free Dry Kibble: Beef Dry Dog FoodDry // No. 10 on the labelNature’s Logic Distinction Grain-Free Canine Red Recipe Dry Dog FoodNature's LogicNature’s Logic Distinction Grain-Free Canine Red Recipe Dry Dog FoodDry // No. 10 on the label

Sources

What we read

Checked October 1, 2026.

  1. 1 Investigation of the Digestibility, Fecal Characteristics, and Palatability of Oil Mil By-Products as a Plant-Based Protein Source in Canine Diets Animals, 2025 // Journal
  2. 2 Biochemical Composition of Pumpkin Seeds and Seed By-Products Plants, 2024 // Journal
  3. 3 Pumpkin, squash, gourd and other Cucurbita species Feedipedia, 2012 // Database
  4. 4 An evaluation of the local pumpkin seed (Cucurbita maxima) as an anthelmintic agent University of Malta, 1998 // University
  5. 5 CHARACTERIZATION AND EVALUATION OF THE ANTIOXIDANT POTENTIAL OF PUMPKIN SEED FLOUR (CUCURBITA MOSCHATA) Revista e-TECH, 2024 // Journal
  6. 6 Reading Labels AAFCO, n.d. // Regulator
  7. 7 Roundworms Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, n.d. // University
  8. 8 Pet Food Production and Ingredient Analysis 2025 Update Pet Food Institute, 2025 // Industry
  9. 9 Exploring the lipid oxidation mechanisms during pumpkin seed kernels storage based on lipidomics: From phenomena, substances, and metabolic mechanisms Food Chemistry, 2024 // Journal
  10. 10 Study of the physicochemical composition of pumpkin seeds flour as a food ingredient INNOTEC, 2012 // Journal
An ingredient on its own tells you very little. What matters is how much of it there is and where it sits in the list. That is why we weigh the top five rather than reacting to any single name further down. Back to the wiki

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