Beet Pulp

Only a little. Beet pulp is what remains after most of the sugar is extracted from sugar beets, so some sugar is left, usually less than 10 percent.

Beet pulp is the fibrous material left after sugar is extracted from sugar beets. AAFCO lists dried beet pulp among the pet food ingredients that often supply dietary fiber. It is moderately fermentable, and large amounts can cause gas or soft stool, though the levels in cat food are usually moderate. For a cat with a digestive or other medical condition, ask your veterinarian.

Source: aafco.org

Beet pulp is there for fiber. Gut bacteria ferment part of it, and the rest adds bulk to stool. That mix tends to firm up stool, which is one reason it is among the most common fiber sources in cat food. Tufts veterinary nutritionists describe beet pulp as a mixture of soluble and insoluble fiber, along with psyllium seed husk and oat bran.

Source: sites.tufts.edu

They are the same ingredient under different label names. Beet pulp, dried beet pulp and dried plain beet pulp all refer to the fiber left after sugar extraction. Plain means no molasses was added back, which some feed-grade beet pulp for livestock contains. Pettings groups all of these names on one page because they describe the same fiber source.

No. Beet pulp comes from sugar beets, not the red table beets people eat, and it is what remains after the sugar has been pressed and washed out. Most of the beet's sugar and color are gone. What is left is mostly fiber, with some pectin, which is why it works as a fiber source and not as a vegetable ingredient.

Pettings gives beet pulp 3 out of 5 and lists it under beet pulp. It appears on 36 of the 149 dry cat foods we list. Foods with it average 53 out of 100 on our Ingredients score, compared with 59 for the 113 foods without it, though one ingredient is only a small part of that score. Each food's page shows how it scores overall.