Can Dogs Eat Pumpkin Pie? Not the Pie: Spice, Sugar and Xylitol
Quick answer
Better not. Plain cooked pumpkin is not on the ASPCA list of people foods to avoid, but a pie is not plain pumpkin. The American Kennel Club says nutmeg contains myristicin, which can cause harmful reactions in dogs, and the ASPCA warns that xylitol, used in some sugar-free desserts, can cause low blood sugar and liver damage.
Taken from this page and its sources. Not veterinary advice. If your pet has already eaten some and seems unwell, see who to call.
Has your dog already eaten some? Phone your vet, an emergency vet or your national animal poison line now, even if your dog seems fine. Keep the packet or recipe, and note roughly how much was eaten and when. Find an emergency vet · What the vet will ask
This page is not veterinary advice. Paw Multiverse is not a veterinary practice. We cannot examine, diagnose or treat your animal. There are no doses here, no portion sizes, no feeding amounts and no treatment steps, on purpose. If your pet has eaten something you are worried about, or has changed in a way you cannot explain, ring your vet or your nearest emergency clinic and let them decide. Full disclaimer.
Pumpkin is one of the foods dog owners are most often told is fine. Pumpkin pie is a different thing: a spiced, sweetened custard in a buttery crust, and sometimes a sugar-free one.
On this page (8 sections)
What is published
The ASPCA’s Thanksgiving advice is to check the ingredients and spices in anything a pet might be given, and it names xylitol, the sweetener in some desserts, as able to cause low blood sugar, liver damage or death. Source: ASPCA, Thanksgiving safety tips.
The American Kennel Club says nutmeg contains myristicin, and that in dogs it can cause high blood pressure, a raised heart rate, abdominal pain, hallucinations or seizures. It also says the nutmeg in a single bite of a cookie may have little or no effect, but still advises keeping dogs away from nutmeg altogether. Source: American Kennel Club, Can dogs eat nutmeg? (updated 19 March 2025).
The pumpkin is not the problem
Plain pumpkin has its own page here: can dogs eat pumpkin. The risk in a pie is everything added to it. Tins labelled pumpkin pie filling are already sweetened and spiced; tins of plain pumpkin purée are not, and the label is the only way to tell them apart.
Sugar-free and “light” pies
Some reduced-sugar pies, sweeteners and toppings use xylitol. The ASPCA says xylitol can cause low blood sugar and, depending on the amount, liver damage. If a pie, a sweetener or a squirty cream is sugar-free, read the ingredients before anything is left where a dog can reach it. Source: ASPCA, People foods to avoid feeding your pets. More: xylitol and dogs.
Crust, cream and dairy
The ASPCA says pets do not have much lactase, so milk and other dairy products can cause diarrhoea or other digestive upset; pumpkin pie is usually made with evaporated or condensed milk and served with cream. Source: ASPCA, People foods to avoid feeding your pets.
PDSA lists recently eating high-fat foods, naming butter, among the things that raise a dog’s risk of pancreatitis. Pastry is mostly butter or shortening. Source: PDSA, Pancreatitis in dogs.
Signs the AKC lists
For a dog that has helped itself to pumpkin pie, the AKC says to watch for disorientation, dry mouth, vomiting, tremors and lack of coordination, and to contact a vet or a pet poison line straight away if they appear. It advises against home remedies unless a vet or poison line tells you to. Source: American Kennel Club, Can dogs eat nutmeg? (updated 19 March 2025).
What we could not source for this page
- No publisher we read gives a safe amount of pumpkin pie, or a toxic amount of nutmeg, for a dog. Neither do we.
- No publisher we read says how much nutmeg a typical pumpkin pie contains; recipes vary too much to say.
Where these facts come from
- ASPCA, Thanksgiving safety tips, read 6 November 2026.
- ASPCA, People foods to avoid feeding your pets, read 6 November 2026.
- American Kennel Club, Can dogs eat nutmeg? (updated 19 March 2025), read 6 November 2026.
- PDSA, Pancreatitis in dogs, read 6 November 2026.
Sources last checked 6 November 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
Where to go next
Every food on this site is on the dog food colour chart, and the whole holiday table is on Thanksgiving pet safety and Christmas pet safety. If your dog has already eaten something, go to my dog ate something and the poison control directory.
